The 2019 SEC basketball season will soon have a champion. Auburn and Tennessee faceoff for the next years bragging rights. Will a gritty Auburn team that won’t quit on the court come out on top? Or will this Tennessee team avenge itself after falling short last year?
The 2019 SEC basketball conference champion will either be the Tennessee Volunteers or the Auburn Tigers.
Tennessee is back in the conference title game for the second year in a row. With SEC Player of the Year, Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield leading the way for the Vols, Auburn has a tall task.
According to Tennessee’s website, this game will be the first time these two teams meet in an SEC Tournament championship game. If the Vols win, it’ll be their first SEC Tournament title since 1979.
If Auburn wins, it’ll be the Tiger’s second-ever conference tournament title and the first since 1985.
When these two meet in the SEC Tournament, the Vols hold a 9-3 record over the Tigers with Tennessee winning the last two meetings.
However, Auburn did win the lone matchup this season only a week ago. The Tigers defeated Tennessee 84-80.
How did these two teams end up here? Tennessee was a No. 3 seed in the tournament and had a double-bye. Then the Vols took on Mississippi State and defeated the Bulldogs 83-76.
After that came round three with Kentucky, this time the Vols came back and defeated the Wildcats 82-78. That win cruised Tennesse back in the championship game.
As for Auburn, its story was a little more hard fought. The Tigers were a No. 5 seed with a first-round bye game. Then Auburn took on Missouri beating those Tigers 81-71.
The Tigers faced off with South Carolina next and beat the Gamecocks 73-64 before taking down a hot Florida team 65-62.
These two teams both have something to fight for in this game. Auburn wants to win its second-ever SEC Tournament title, and Tennessee wants to finish what it started.
My prediction is that Tennessee is a much stronger team and will come out on top. However, here are how both groups can defeat the other because it is March and this basketball game can go either way.