Vanderbilt Benefits From Rival's Loss to Improve SEC Tournament Seeding
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With the regular season over with, it’s time to start one of the most exciting months of sports: tournament basketball.
Vanderbilt and the other 15 SEC women’s basketball teams are headed to Greenville, S.C. for the 2025 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The first round starts on Wednesday and, somewhat surprisingly, the Commodores won’t be playing on the tournament’s first day.
🚨 The Bracket.
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 3, 2025
🔗https://t.co/vhesX5HlIP #SECWBB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/G6iveQnHb4
Vanderbilt ended its season with a pair of wins, including a 100-59 victory against Missouri on Sunday. But it was unranked Georgia’s upset win against No. 11 Tennessee that saw the Commodores and Lady Volunteers switch spots in the conference standings.
Wait for it 😉#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/cCUoxlkefd
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) March 2, 2025
Vanderbilt (21-9, 8-8 SEC) will face the winner of No. 16 seed Texas A&M (10-18, 3-13 SEC) and No. 9 seed Tennessee (21-8, 8-8 SEC) in Thursday’s second round. The Commodores will play in the first game of the day at 10 a.m. on SEC Network.
There was drama elsewhere in the SEC, too. Both Texas and South Carolina finished as co-regular season conference champions and commissioner Greg Sankey had to flip a coin to decide who will be conference tournament’s No. 1 seed. South Carolina won the coin flip and will face the winner of Vanderbilt’s second round game.
Jada Brown hits a three and the Dores have 💯#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/Fwngep2KIi
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) March 2, 2025
While the Commodores will have high expectations for the post-season, this season is already a big success for the program. It’s the first time in 10 years that Vanderbilt won 21 or more games in back-to-back seasons. The offense scored 100 points or more seven times this season and ranks as the nation’s seventh-best scoring offense. And Vanderbilt is almost certainly going to make its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Vanderbilt also has the likely SEC Freshman of the Year in Mikayla Blakes, who averaged 23.1 points per game that ranks sixth in the nation among all players. Sophomore Khamil Pierre was 13th in the nation with 20.9 ppg, giving the Commodores a bright future.
We’ll see if there will be more to celebrate later this week.
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