SEC Tournament 2020: Schedule and Bracket Predictions for Conference Tourney

Sam Craft/Associated Press

Last year, Kentucky's recent string of SEC Tournament dominance came to an end. After winning the tournament championship the previous four seasons, the Wildcats lost in the semifinals while Auburn went on to win the title.

Now, Kentucky is looking to return to the top in 2020.

The Wildcats have already clinched the SEC regular-season championship entering the final weekend of the regular season. They are 14-3 in conference play, while no other SEC team has more than 11 wins against conference opponents.

Although it's been a down year for most of the SEC, the conference tournament will give some teams the opportunity to build some momentum heading into March Madness.

Here's the schedule for next week's SEC Tournament, followed by predictions for how the teams will be seeded after Saturday's regular-season finales.

SEC Tournament Schedule

All Times ET

Wednesday, March 11

No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (7 p.m., SEC Network)

No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (25 minutes after previous game, SEC Network)

Thursday, March 12

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (1 p.m., SEC Network)

No. 5 seed vs. Winner of No. 12 vs. No. 13 (25 minutes after previous game, SEC Network)

No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed (7 p.m., SEC Network)

No. 6 seed vs. Winner of No. 11 vs. No. 14 (25 minutes after previous game, SEC Network)

Friday, March 13

No. 1 seed vs. Winner of No. 8 vs. No. 9 (1 p.m., ESPN)

No. 4 seed vs. Winner of No. 5 vs. No. 12/No. 13 (25 minutes after previous game, ESPN)

No. 2 seed vs. Winner of No. 7 vs. No. 10 (7 p.m., SEC Network)

No. 3 seed vs. Winner of No. 6 vs. No. 11/No. 14 (25 minutes after previous game, SEC Network)

Saturday, March 14

Semifinal No. 1 (1 p.m., ESPN)

Semifinal No. 2 (25 minutes after previous game, ESPN)

Sunday, March 15

Championship (1 p.m., ESPN)

Bracket Predictions

1. Kentucky

2. LSU

3. Auburn

4. Florida

5. Mississippi State

6. South Carolina

7. Texas A&M

8. Tennessee

9. Alabama

10. Arkansas

11. Missouri

12. Ole Miss

13. Georgia

14. Vanderbilt

Although Kentucky lost to Tennessee at home on Tuesday, the Wildcats have the opportunity to bounce back before the SEC Tournament. They have a tough road game at Florida on Saturday, but they should beat the Gators for the second time in two weeks to cap their regular season.

That outcome will also play a factor in seeding for the top teams, as Florida is one of three conference teams entering the weekend at 11-6 in SEC play, along with LSU and Auburn.

However, only one of those teams will win its final regular-season game, and that will be LSU.

LSU has a favorable home matchup against Georgia, so the Tigers should win handily to finish with 12 conference wins. Although they've lost six of their last nine games, they likely won't have trouble against the Bulldogs. And LSU should be thrilled that it will come out of a challenging regular season as the No. 2 seed for the SEC tourney.

That will only happen because Auburn's recent struggles will continue when it travels to face Tennessee in a rematch of last year's SEC Tournament championship game. The Tigers beat the Vols two weeks ago, but that was one of only two wins over their last six games.

Tennessee is coming off a road win over Kentucky and needs a win to try to secure the best possible seed in a tight middle of the conference standings. That's why the Vols will notch another big win heading into the tournament by taking down Auburn.

With there likely being eight SEC teams separated by only three conference wins (between LSU at 12 and Alabama at nine), there could be a lot of competitive games and close finishes in this year's tournament.

However, this appears to be Kentucky's tournament to lose. The Wildcats are likely the only team from the conference that will receive a top seed for the NCAA Tournament, and they've been the best team in the SEC for most of the season.

Led by a balanced scoring attack of four players averaging at least 11.5 points per game, Kentucky will claim the SEC Tournament crown for the fifth time in six seasons and begin what should be another strong March for the Wildcats.