2017–18 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

The 2017–18 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2018 and ended in March, after which 14 member teams participated in the 2018 SEC tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The tournament champion was guaranteed a selection to the 2018 NCAA tournament.

2017–18 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	CBS, ESPN, SEC Network
Regular Season
2018 SEC Champions	Auburn and Tennessee
Season MVP	Yante Maten, Georgia and Grant Williams, Tennessee
Tournament
Venue	Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Champions	Kentucky
Runners-up	Tennessee
Finals MVP	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kentucky

2017–18 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 19 Auburn	13	–	5		.722			26	–	8		.765
No. 13 Tennessee	13	–	5		.722			26	–	9		.743
No. 23 Florida	11	–	7		.611			21	–	13		.618
No. 18 Kentucky †	10	–	8		.556			26	–	11		.703
Missouri	10	–	8		.556			20	–	13		.606
Arkansas	10	–	8		.556			23	–	12		.657
Mississippi State	9	–	9		.500			25	–	12		.676
Texas A&M	9	–	9		.500			22	–	13		.629
Alabama	8	–	10		.444			20	–	16		.556
LSU	8	–	10		.444			18	–	15		.545
Georgia	7	–	11		.389			18	–	15		.545
South Carolina	7	–	11		.389			17	–	16		.515
Vanderbilt	6	–	12		.333			12	–	20		.375
Ole Miss	5	–	13		.278			12	–	20		.375
† 2018 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Preseason

SEC recruits at the 2017 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

Quade Green, Kentucky

Kevin Knox II, Kentucky

Nick Richards, Kentucky

Collin Sexton, Alabama

P. J. Washington, Kentucky

Jarred Vanderbilt, Kentucky

Michael Porter Jr., Missouri

Preseason All-American teams

Preseason polls

Main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season § Pre-season polls

	AP	Athlon Sports	Bleacher Report	Blue Ribbon Yearbook	CBS Sports	Coaches	ESPN	FOX Sports	KenPom	Lindy's Sports	NBC Sports	SBNation	Sporting News	Sports Illustrated	USBWA	Yahoo Sports
Alabama	RV				#19	#25	#27				#23			#21
Arkansas					#36	RV	#65							#49
Auburn					#66		#35							#33
Florida	#8		#10		#9	#7	#15				#7	#9		#10
Georgia					#53	RV	#57							#58
Kentucky	#5		#6		#6	#4	#9				#8	#6		#8
LSU					#147		#88							#91
Mississippi State					#76		#69							#48
Missouri	RV				#37	RV	#71					#25		#39
Ole Miss					#88		#59							#53
South Carolina	RV				#81	RV	#40							#61
Tennessee					#118		#49							#76
Texas A&M	#25		#21		#27	RV	#19				#19			#29
Vanderbilt					#46		#61							#59

Media Day Selections

	Media[1]
1.	Kentucky
2.	Florida
3.	Texas A&M
4.	Alabama
5.	Missouri
6.	Arkansas
7.	Vanderbilt
8.	Georgia
9.	Auburn
10.	Ole Miss
11.	South Carolina
12.	Mississippi State
13.	Tennessee
14.	LSU

() first place votes

Preseason All-SEC teams

Media[1]	Coaches[2]
KeVaughn Allen Florida	KeVaughn Allen Florida
Hamidou Diallo Kentucky	Deandre Burnett Ole Miss
Yante Maten Georgia	Tyler Davis Texas A&M
Michael Porter Jr. Missouri	Matthew Fisher-Davis Vanderbilt
Robert Williams Texas A&M	Kevin Knox II Kentucky
	Michael Porter Jr. Missouri
	Quinndary Weatherspoon Mississippi State
	Robert Williams Texas A&M

• Media select a five-member first team; coaches select an eight-member first team
• Players in bold are media choices for SEC Player of the Year; coaches do not select a preseason Player of the Year

Head coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Season at school	Overall record	SEC record	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Alabama	Avery Johnson	Brooklyn Nets	3	37–30 (.552)	18–18 (.500)	0	0	0
Arkansas	Mike Anderson	Missouri	7	128–74 (.634)	60–46 (.566)	2	0	0
Auburn	Bruce Pearl	Tennessee	4	44–54 (.449)	16–38 (.296)	0	0	0
Florida	Mike White	Louisiana Tech	3	48–24 (.667)	23–13 (.639)	1	0	0
Georgia	Mark Fox	Nevada	9	145–118 (.551)	70–68 (.507)	2	0	0
Kentucky	John Calipari	Memphis	9	249–53 (.825)	111–27 (.804)	7	4	1
LSU	Will Wade	VCU	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0
Mississippi State	Ben Howland	UCLA	3	30–33 (.476)	13–23 (.361)	0	0	0
Missouri	Cuonzo Martin	California	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0
Ole Miss	Andy Kennedy	Cincinnati	12	234–139 (.627)	98–88 (.527)	2	0	0
South Carolina	Frank Martin	Kansas State	6	96–74 (.565)	38–52 (.422)	1	1	0
Tennessee	Rick Barnes	Texas	3	31–35 (.470)	14–22 (.389)	0	0	0
Texas A&M	Billy Kennedy	Murray State	7	115–85 (.575)	51–57 (.472)	1	0	0
Vanderbilt	Bryce Drew	Valparaiso	2	19–16 (.543)	10–8 (.556)	1	0	0

Rankings

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

Main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
Alabama	AP	RV	RV	25	24	RV	RV	RV		RV				RV	RV	RV	RV
	C	25	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV		RV			RV	RV	RV	RV
Arkansas	AP		RV	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV	22	RV						RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV		RV	RV	RV	23	RV						RV	RV
Auburn	AP							RV	RV	RV	22	17	19	11	8	10	12	14
	C								RV	RV	24	20	19	13	9	11	13	15
Florida	AP	8	8	7	6	5	22	RV	RV		RV	RV	20	23	RV	RV		RV
	C	7 (1)	7 (1)	7	6	5	22	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	24	RV	RV	RV	RV
Georgia	AP				RV	RV	RV				RV
	C	RV	RV	RV		RV	RV
Kentucky	AP	5	7	8	7	8	8	7	16	17	21	18	RV	21	24	RV	RV	23
	C	4	4	8	7	7	5	6	15	14	20	16	RV	22	24	RV	RV	25
LSU	AP
	C
Mississippi State	AP					RV	RV			RV
	C						RV	RV	RV		RV
Missouri	AP	RV	RV													RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Ole Miss	AP
	C
South Carolina	AP	RV	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV
Tennessee	AP				RV	24	20	21	19	23	24	21	22	18	15	18	19	16
	C				RV	RV	20	20	20	22	23	21	21	19	14	17	19	17
Texas A&M	AP	25	16	16	9	7	9	8	5	11	RV					21	RV
	C	RV	RV	19	10	9	10	9	6	13	RV					RV	RV	RV
Vanderbilt	AP
	C

Regular season

SEC regular season

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Results updated through February 25, 2018.

	Alabama	Arkansas	Auburn	Florida	Georgia	Kentucky	LSU	Miss. State	Missouri	Ole Miss	S. Carolina	Tennessee	Texas A&M	Vanderbilt
vs. Alabama	–	1-0	1-1	0–1	1–0	1-0	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0
vs. Arkansas	0–1	–	1–0	1–0	0–1	1-0	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	1-1	0–1
vs. Auburn	1-1	0–1	–	1-0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1-0	0–1	1–0	0–1
vs. Florida	1–0	0–1	0–1	–	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1-0	0–1	1-1
vs. Georgia	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–2	–	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	2-0	0–1	0–0	1–0
vs. Kentucky	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	–	0–1	0–1	1-1	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–2
vs. LSU	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	2-0	1–0	–	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1-1
vs. Miss. State	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	–	1–1	1-1	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–1
vs. Missouri	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1-1	1-0	1–1	–	1-1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–0
vs. Ole Miss	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1-1	1-1	–	0–1	2-0	1–0	0–0
vs. South Carolina	1–0	1–0	1-1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–0	2-0	1–0	1–0	–	2–0	1–0	0–1
vs. Tennessee	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1-0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	–	0–1	0–2
vs. Texas A&M	1–0	1-1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	1-0	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	–	0–1
vs. Vanderbilt	0–1	1–0	1–0	1-1	0–1	2–0	1-1	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	1-0	–
Total	8–8	9–7	12–4	9–7	7–9	9–7	7–9	9–7	8–8	5–11	6–10	11–5	7–9	5–11

Records against other conferences

2017-18 records against non-conference foes as of January 27, 2018:

Regular Season

Power Conferences	Record
ACC	6–9
American	8–5
Big East	2–3
Big Ten	4–2
Big 12	10–8
Pac-12	2–7
Power 7 Total	32–34
Other NCAA Division I Conferences	Record
America East	2–0
Atlantic 10	6–1
Atlantic Sun	6–0
Big Sky	0–0
Big South	8–0
Big West	3–0
CAA	3–0
Conference USA	7–2
Horizon League	4–0
Ivy League	2–0
MAAC	1–0
MAC	4–0
MEAC	3–0
MVC	2–3
Mountain West	3–1
NEC	2–0
OVC	6–1
Patriot League	1–0
SoCon	7–0
Southland	8–1
SWAC	5–0
Summit League	3–1
Sun Belt	7–0
WAC	3–0
WCC	4–0
Other Division I Total	104–10
NCAA Division I Total	136–44
Division II Total	3–0
Total	139–44

Postseason

SEC Tournament

Main article: 2018 SEC men's basketball tournament

• March 7–11 at the Scottrade Center, St. Louis. Teams will be seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

2016 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker	First Round March 7	Second Round March 8	Quarterfinals March 9	Semifinals March 10	Championship March 11
1.	‡Auburn	13–5	25–6	1–0 vs. Tennessee	Bye	Bye	vs. #9 Alabama L, 63–81
2.	†Tennessee	13–5	23–7	0–1 vs. Auburn	Bye	Bye	vs. #7 Mississippi State W, 62–59	vs. #6 Arkansas W, 84–66	vs. #4 Kentucky L, 72–77
3.	†Florida	11–7	20–11		Bye	Bye	vs. #6 Arkansas L, 72–80
4.	†Kentucky	10–8	21–10	2–1 vs. Ark/Mizz	Bye	Bye	vs. #12 Georgia W, 62–49	vs. #9 Alabama W, 86–63	vs. #2 Tennessee W, 77–72
5.	#Missouri	10–8	20–11	2–2 vs Ark/UK	Bye	vs. #12 Georgia L, 60–62
6.	#Arkansas	10–8	21–10	1–2 vs. UK/Mizz	Bye	vs. #11 South Carolina W, 69–64	vs. #3 Florida W, 80–72	vs. #2 Tennessee L, 66–84
7.	#Mississippi State	9–9	21–10	1–0 vs. Texas A&M	Bye	vs. #10 LSU W, 80–77	vs. #2 Tennessee L, 59–62
8.	#Texas A&M	9–9	20–11	0–1 vs. Mississippi State	Bye	vs. #9 Alabama L, 70–71
9.	#Alabama	8–10	17–14	2–0 vs. LSU	Bye	vs. #8 Texas A&M W, 71–70	vs. #1 Auburn W, 81–63	vs. #4 Kentucky L, 63–86
10.	#LSU	8–10	17–14	0–2 vs. Alabama	Bye	vs. #7 Mississippi State L, 77–80
11.	#South Carolina	7–11	16–15	2–0 vs. Georgia	vs. #14 Ole Miss W, 85–84	vs. #6 Arkansas L, 64–69
12.	Georgia	7–11	16–14	0–2 vs. South Carolina	vs. #13 Vanderbilt W, 78–62	vs. #5 Missouri W, 62–60	vs. #4 Kentucky L, 49–62
13.	Vanderbilt	6–12	12–19		vs. #12 Georgia L, 62–78
14.	Ole Miss	5–13	12–19		vs. #11 South Carolina L, 84–85
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Seed	Region	School	First Round	Second Round	Sweet 16
3	South	Tennessee	#14 Wright State W 73–47 (Dallas)	#11 Loyola–Chicago L 62–63 (Dallas)
4	Midwest	Auburn	#13 Charleston W 62–58(San Diego)	#5 Clemson L 53–84 (San Diego)
5	South	Kentucky	#12 Davidson W 78–73 (Boise)	#13 Buffalo W 95–75 (Boise)	#9 Kansas State L 58–61 (Atlanta)
6	East	Florida	#11 St. Bonaventure W 77–62 (Dallas)	#3 Texas Tech L 66–69 (Dallas)
7	East	Arkansas	#10 Butler L 62–79 (Detroit)
7	West	Texas A&M	#10 Providence W 73–69 (Charlotte)	#2 North Carolina W 86–65 (Charlotte)	#3 Michigan L 72–99 (Los Angeles)
8	West	Missouri	#9 Florida State L 54–67 (Nashville)
9	East	Alabama	#8 Virginia Tech W 86–83 (Pittsburgh)	#1 Villanova L 58–81 (Pittsburgh)

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 2018 National Invitation Tournament

Seed	Bracket	School	1st Round	2nd Round
3	Saint Mary's	LSU	W 84–76 vs. #6 Louisiana – (Baton Rouge)	L 71–95 vs. #2 Utah – (Salt Lake City)

Honors and awards

Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, the SEC offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.

Week	Player of the week	Freshman of the week
1[3]	Admon Gilder, A&M	Tremont Waters, LSU
2[4]	Egor Koulechov, UF	John Petty, BAMA
3[5]	Jalen Hudson, UF	Collin Sexton, BAMA
4[6]	Tyson Carter, MSU	Chuma Okeke, AUB
5[7]	Duop Reath, LSU	Daniel Gafford, ARK
6[8]	Daryl Macon, ARK	Hamidou Diallo, UK
7[9]	Yante Maten, UGA	Savion Flagg, A&M
8[10]	Daryl Macon (2), ARK	John Petty (2), BAMA
9[11]	Mustapha Heron, AUB	Tremont Waters (2), LSU
10[12]	Grant Williams, TENN	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, UK
11[13]	Jalen Hudson (2), UF	Daniel Gafford (2), ARK
	Tyler Davis, A&M
12[14]	Daryl Macon (3), ARK	Kevin Knox II, UK
	Mustapha Heron (2), AUB
13[15]	Kassius Robertson, MIZ	Nick Weatherspoon, MSU
14[16]	Kassius Robertson (2), MIZ	T. J. Starks, A&M
15[17]	Jeff Roberson, VAN	Daniel Gafford (3), ARK
16[18]	Lamar Peters, MSU	Jarred Vanderbilt, UK
	Admiral Schofield, TENN

All-SEC Awards

Coaches

2018 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards [19]
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Grant Williams, Tennessee
Coach of the Year	Rick Barnes, Tennessee
Defensive Player of the Year	Chris Silva, South Carolina & Robert Williams, Texas A&M
Freshman of the Year	Kevin Knox II, Kentucky & Collin Sexton, Alabama
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Juwan Parker, Georgia
Sixth Man Award	Jontay Porter, Missouri & Lamonte Turner, Tennessee

2018 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team	All-Freshman Team	All-Defensive Team
Jaylen Barford Sr., G, Arkansas Chris Chiozza Sr., G, Florida Tyler Davis Jr., C, Texas A&M Kevin Knox Fr., F, Kentucky Yante Maten Sr., F, Georgia Kassius Robertson GS, G, Missouri Chris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Grant Williams So., F, Tennessee	Bryce Brown Jr., G, Auburn Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Fr., G, Kentucky Jared Harper So., G, Auburn Daryl Macon Sr., G, Arkansas Admiral Schofield Jr., F, Tennessee Collin Sexton Fr., G, Alabama Jeff Roberson Sr., F, Vanderbilt Quinndary Weatherspoon Jr., F, Miss State	Daniel Gafford Arkansas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Kentucky Kevin Knox Kentucky Jontay Porter Missouri Collin Sexton Alabama TJ Starks Texas A&M Tremont Waters LSU Nick Weatherspoon Miss State	Chris Chiozza Sr., G, Florida Donta Hall Jr., F, Alabama Anfernee McLemore So., F, Auburn Chris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Robert Williams So., F, Texas A&M
† - denotes unanimous selection

AP

2018 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards [20]
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Yante Maten, Georgia
Coach of the Year	Rick Barnes, Tennessee
Newcomer of the Year	Collin Sexton, Alabama

2018 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team
Bryce Brown Jr., G, Auburn Daryl Macon Sr., G, Arkansas †Yante Maten Sr., F, Georgia Collin Sexton Fr., G, Alabama †Grant Williams So., F, Tennessee	Jaylen Barford Sr., G, Arkansas Chris Chiozza Sr., G, Florida Jared Harper So., G, Auburn Mustapha Heron So., G, Auburn Kassius Robertson GS, G, Missouri
† - denotes unanimous selection

NBA draft

Main article: 2018 NBA draft

PG

Point guard

SG

Shooting guard

SF

Small forward

PF

Power forward

C

Center

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position	School
Collin Sexton	Cleveland Cavaliers	1	8	PG	Alabama
Kevin Knox II	New York Knicks	1	9	SF	Kentucky
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	Charlotte Hornets	1	11	PG	Kentucky
Michael Porter Jr.	Denver Nuggets	1	14	SF	Missouri
Robert Williams	Boston Celtics	1	27	PF/C	Texas A&M
Jarred Vanderbilt	Orlando Magic	2	41	SF	Kentucky
Hamidou Diallo	Brooklyn Nets	2	45	SG	Kentucky

Attendance

Note: teams that played more than 16 home games have a * by them

Team	Arena	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Game 8	Total	Average	% of Capacity
			Game 9	Game 10	Game 11	Game 12	Game 13	Game 14	Game 15	Game 16
Alabama	Coleman Coliseum	15,383	12,325	11,948	11,737	12,062	13,534	12,807	14,218	10,909	199,891	13,326	87%
			15,383	15,383	15,383	15,383	11,154	15,383	12,282
*Arkansas	Bud Walton Arena	19,368	13,407	13,404	15,051	13,634	17,583	13,945	15,829	18,696	275,084	16,181	84%
			15,199	18,297	18,030	18,057	14,956	17,083	18,097	18,083
Auburn	Auburn Arena	9,121	7,419	7,197	6,164	6,232	7,565	8,039	8,493	8,950	131,537	8,221	90%
			9,121	9,121	9,121	9,121	7,631	9,121	9,121	9,121
Florida	O'Connell Center	10,133	8,604	9,151	9,501	10,425	9,012	8,203	8,021	10,274	155,118	9,695	96%
			9,917	10,151	10,623	10,845	9,833	9,497	10,503	10,558
Georgia	Stegeman Coliseum	10,523	7,387	5,369	6,220	6,405	10,048	10,523	7,515	10,523	125,448	8,363	79%
			9,788	6,405	8,779	10,523	10,028	9,518	6,417
*Kentucky	Rupp Arena	23,500	19,807	20,174	20,168	19,548	20,645	20,212	22,922	22,690	393,743	21,875	93%
			24,228	22,862	22,643	24,394	20,609	21,143	23,332	23,220
*LSU	Pete Maravich Assembly Center	13,215	11,856	7,731	7,396	7,812	8,449	9,695	8,151	8,212	160,633	9,449	72%
			11,952	13,600	13,215	8,528	9,272	8,545	9,635	7,517
*Mississippi State	Humphrey Coliseum	10,575	6,811	6,132	6,359	7,687	6,034	5,831	7,539	6,613	142,786	7,139	68%
			6,709	7,156	7,764	6,324	8,443	6,633	7,169	7,775
Missouri	Mizzou Arena	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	240,976	15,061	100%
			15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061	15,061
*Ole Miss	The Pavilion at Ole Miss	9,500	8,302	7,042	6,835	6,014	6,297	5,054	6,309	6,102	125,051	6,947	73%
			7,993	5,849	8,664	6,547	8,099	9,121	6,204	6,023
South Carolina	Colonial Life Arena	18,000	12,136	10,832	10,205	11,734	11,305	11,391	16,200	18,000	183,267	13,091	73%
			18,000	11,042	14,629	14,995	11,529	11,269
Tennessee	Thompson–Boling Arena	21,678	15,047	12,343	13,642	14,051	21,678	13,095	14,755	21,678	242589	16,173	75%
			19,612	14,127	13,425	18,316	13,126	16,016	21,678
Texas A&M	Reed Arena	12,989	7,275	6,704	7,121	7,804	6,339	6,595	6,554	12,524	145,940	9,121	70%
			10,845	10,578	11,704	8,761	10,504	13,263	8,614	10,755
*Vanderbilt	Memorial Gymnasium	14,316	8,609	8,048	8,284	8,027	8,570	8,739	4,623	8,125	161,845	8,991	63%
			9,519	11,510	13,389	8,760	9,755	8,761	8,592	10,346