Breaking Down the Tournament Brackets Ahead of Wednesday

The Vanderbilt Commodores open SEC Tournament play Wednesday night along with Ole Miss, Georgia, and Arkansas who will also take the floor on the first day of the five-day event.

The Commodores face Arkansas in the second game of day one, scheduled to tipoff 25 minutes following the conclusion of Georgia and Ole Miss which tips at 6 pm to open the tournament.

When looking at the Commodores side of the bracket, which along with the Razorbacks includes a potential second-round rematch against South Carolina if Vanderbilt can defeat the Hogs on Wednesday, and then a return match with LSU on Friday if the Commodores can win the first two rounds.

It's an interesting draw, to say the least, that Vanderbilt could face two of the three teams they defeated in league play in the second and third rounds. It's also a longshot that the Commodores will be playing on days two or three, but then no one thought this scrappy bunch could win in Tuscaloosa or takedown South Carolina Saturday.

If somehow the Commodores were to make it through the first three days, a likely matchup with Auburn would await as the Tigers would face the winner of Missouri and Texas A&M on day three to set up a second shot at Bruce Pearl's bunch.

The top side of the bracket would appear to be the Kentucky invitational, with Tennessee being the only team on their side of the bracket to defeat the Cats this season. Of course, the Cats could see the Cats on day three if the Volunteers can knock out Alabama in their first game.

What exactly will take place this week when the 14 league teams gather here in Nashville remains to be seen, but conventional wisdom says it will be Auburn and Kentucky still standing with the title on the line Sunday.

Of course, there are 12 other teams who all have designs on knocking the two best teams in the conference out because both the Tigers and Cats are already locked into spots in March Madness and have less incentive to play for this weekend because their postseason lives aren't on the line.

So who has the best chance of taking out the top two beside each other?

For my money, give me LSU and Texas A&M.

LSU is the number three seed and a team loaded with athletes and is capable of beating anyone and also losing to Vanderbilt. Despite that almost inexplicable loss in Nashville, the Tigers have the talent to wreck the Tigers chances before Sunday and then also kill the king Sunday if they arrive.

Buzz Williams' Aggies have been playing good ball of late, despite losses to Kentucky and LSU in late February. The College Station crew was in both games and then took down Auburn on The Plains last Wednesday.

While LSU is likely in the field for the NCAA Tournament, some wins would improve their seeding and a conference title could vault them even higher. Texas A&M, on the other hand, is still a bubble team and a run this week could push them in or finished them off depending on how things go.

The Aggies don't have an impressive basketball history so for them to be able to make a run and possibly pull off a tournament title would be just what that program needs to take the next step for Williams.

There are endless possibilities and 14 teams all coming together to try to wear the tournament crown, and while the realistic chances of 12 of them winning it all are slim, the likelihood is that the Commodores exit stage left Wednesday night and set their sights on recruiting and next season.

But what if?

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