WBB: Tournament watch

With just one game remaining in the regular season, March Madness is nearly upon us. With the success of the South Carolina women's team in the 2011-12 season, the Gamecocks are in a good position for the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament. How good is their position? GamecockAnthem.com takes a look.

Thursday was the worst-case scenario for South Carolina’s women’s basketball team.

Carolina entered Thursday night in a four-way tie for third place with Georgia, Arkansas, and LSU. With Georgia hosting Ole Miss, LSU hosting Vanderbilt, and Arkansas traveling to Tennessee you would expect at least one of the three to lose, if not two.

None of it happened.

Georgia smoked Ole Miss, LSU hung on to beat Vandy, and Arkansas picked up their first win ever in Thompson-Boling Arena. Kentucky escaped a late Carolina rally to win 53-50 and the Gamecocks now sit alone in sixth place in the conference standings and eliminated from contention for a top four seed in the conference tournament and will have to play in the first round next Thursday.

There is only one scenario where South Carolina can help its case is to beat Arkansas Sunday and hope LSU beats Georgia in Athens, Mississippi State beats Kentucky, and Tennessee beats Florida. South Carolina would have split the season series with Arkansas and Georgia beat both in each meeting. That would give Georgia the fourth seed and Arkansas and Carolina would each be 1-2 with a series split and loss to Georgia. Tennessee would win the conference with a win and Kentucky loss and the Vols lost to Carolina in its only meeting and the Vols split with Arkansas. That would give Carolina the fifth seed and Arkansas the sixth seed.

If any of the other three games go any other way, it does not matter what the Gamecocks do; they will be the sixth seed regardless of a win or loss. If Carolina loses to Arkansas and Vandy or Florida wins their game, they would be tied but the Gamecocks swept both teams and will have the tiebreaker.

With Kentucky’s win and Tennessee’s loss, Kentucky is now in sole possession of first place and would win the SEC with a win Sunday or a Tennessee loss. Tennessee is in second and Georgia, Arkansas, and LSU are in a three-way tie for third.

SEC Standings

Kentucky – 12-3
Tennessee – 11-4
Georgia – 10-5
LSU – 10-5
Arkansas – 10-5
South Carolina – 9-6
Vanderbilt – 8-7
Florida – 8-7
Mississippi State – 4-11
Auburn – 4-11
Alabama – 2-13
Mississippi – 2-13

Tiebreakers

Georgia owns the tiebreaker over Arkansas and LSU by virtue of a win over Arkansas. They have not played LSU yet. Arkansas and LSU split its series, but LSU currently has the fourth seed because they have not played Georgia yet and Arkansas has already lost to Georgia.

Vanderbilt owns the tiebreaker over Florida by virtue of its win over the Gators so Vandy is the seventh seed and Florida the eighth.

Mississippi State owns the tiebreaker over Auburn by virtue of its win over the Tigers. Mississippi State is the ninth seed and Auburn the tenth.

Alabama and Mississippi split the season series, but Alabama owns the tiebreaker with a win over Kentucky and is the eleventh seed and Mississippi is the twelfth.

SEC Tournament

March 1st

Game 1 - Mississippi State (9) vs. Florida (8)
Game 2 – Auburn (10) vs. Vandy (7)
Game 3 – Mississippi (12) vs. Arkansas (5)
Game 4 – Alabama (11) vs. South Carolina (6)


March 2nd

Game 5 – Game 1 winner vs. Kentucky (1)
Game 6 – Game 2 winner vs. Tennessee (2)
Game 7 – Game 3 winner vs. LSU (4)
Game 8 – Game 4 winner vs. Georgia (3)


March 3rd

Game 9 – Game 5 vs. Game 7 winner Game 10 – Game 6 winner vs. Game 8 winner

March 4th

Game 11 – Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner