The Southeastern Conference Tournament — men's and women's — has experienced very few maddening moments, at least the type that have famously defined college basketball in March.
Teams that dominate the regular season usually end up winning the SEC's postseason event. Traditional powers own the most titles: Kentucky has won the men's tourney 32 times, while Tennessee has won the women's tourney 17 times.
What Is the Lowest Seed to Win the SEC Men's Tournament?
The lowest seed to win the SEC Men's Tournament is an eighth seed, and it was achieved by Auburn in 1985.
Led by the lethal shooting of Chuck Person (aka "The Rifleman"), the Tigers won their first-ever SEC tourney crown by beating third-seeded Alabama 53-49 in overtime in the championship game.
How Auburn Pulled Off Its SEC Tournament Run
Auburn finished the SEC regular season at 8-10, scoring 70.3 points per game (sixth most in the 10-team league) and surrendering 65.2 points per game (fourth fewest).
Person, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, averaged 22.0 points along with 8.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists to earn All-SEC first-team honors. The future No. 4 overall pick of the 1986 NBA Draft also was named SEC Tournament MVP after leading the Tigers' miracle run.
Auburn made history as the first SEC tourney champion to win four games in four days. At the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama, the Tigers defeated No. 9 Ole Miss (68-60), No. 1 LSU (58-55), No. 5 Florida (43-42) and No. 3 Alabama (53-49).
In the championship game against the rival Crimson Tide, Auburn led 2-0 and trailed the rest of the game until it took a 51-49 lead with 10 seconds left in overtime on two Gerald White free throws. Alabama had a chance to tie the game, but Mark Gottfried was called for traveling with five seconds remaining.
Frank Ford's buzzer-beating dunk punctuated the Tigers' 53-49 OT victory.
What Is the Lowest Seed to Win the SEC Women's Tournament?
In 1997, Auburn won the SEC Women's Tournament as a No. 9 seed — the lowest-seeded SEC tourney champion ever.
The Tigers finished with a 5-7 record in league play but earned the SEC's automatic berth for the NCAA Tournament by defeating Florida 52-47 in the title game at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Senior forward Laticia Morris was named tournament MVP.
Seeded seventh in the NCAA Tournament's Mideast Region, Auburn beat No. 10 Louisville 68-65 in the first round. The Tigers' postseason run ended in the second round, where they lost 74-48 to No. 2 Louisiana Tech.
Other Low Seeds to Win the SEC Tournament
In 2022, Kentucky became the second lowest seed to win the SEC Tournament. Seeded seventh, the Wildcats defeated 10th-seeded Mississippi State (83-67), second-seeded LSU (78-63), third-seeded Tennessee (83-74) and top-seeded South Carolina (64-62) to capture their first league tourney title since 1982.
Kentucky's last three victories came against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. After eliminating No. 6 LSU and No. 18 Tennessee, the Wildcats rallied from a 15-point deficit against No. 1 South Carolina and completed the upset thanks to Dre'una Edwards' 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left.
KENTUCKY HITS THE LATE THREE TO BEAT SOUTH CAROLINA AND WIN THE WOMEN'S SEC CHAMPIONSHIP 😱@KentuckyWBB pic.twitter.com/pOI2k7bsGe
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 6, 2022
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lowest Seeds to Win the SEC Tournament, Men's and Women's.
