SEC Basketball: March Madness Matchups, Bold Prediction

SEC Basketball March Madness matchups, bold prediction

South Region

The Alabama Crimson Tide have earned the #1 overall seed after a dominant performance in the SEC Tournament and throughout the season. They will begin their March Madness run in a virtual home game in Birmingham, AL against either Texas A&M Corpus-Christi or SE Missouri State. Missouri enters the bracket as a seven seed, where they will travel to Sacramento, CA to face the Utah State Aggies from the Mountain West.

Midwest Region

Similarly to the Tide, Auburn earns an opportunity to play close to home in Birmingham, AL as they will face Iowa in 8/9 matchup. The Tigers will look to erase their wrongs from an underwhelming performance last March. The winner is expected to face the scary Houston Cougars in a rugged second round battle. In somewhat of a disappointment, the Texas A&M Aggies come into the bracket as a seven seed after an outstanding regular season. They will face the tenth seeded Penn State Nittany Lions from the Big Ten. Additionally, Mississippi State earns an at-large tournament bid in a First Four game against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

West Region

Eric Musselman lives for March. Coming off of back to back Elite 8 appearances, the Razorbacks will face the Fighting Illini of Illinois as an eight seed on Thursday. The winner will look to bust brackets as they face the reigning champion Kansas Jayhawks in round two.

East Region

A roller coaster of emotions encapsulated a crazy season for both Kentucky and Tennessee. After not winning a game in the conference tournament, the selection committee slotted Kentucky into a very difficult matchup against the eleventh seeded Providence Friars. Meanwhile, the Volunteers earned a four seed and will stumble into a matchup against the Sun Belt Champion, Louisiana, without their veteran point guard Zakai Zeigler.

Bold Prediction

Texas A&M, Missouri, and Arkansas have all proved time and time again this season that they have the capability to knock off elite teams. Although the draws for these teams are far from ideal, my bold prediction for the 2023 March Madness tournament is that we will see two of these three teams in the Sweet 16. SEC Basketball is coming to bust brackets!