SEC Tournament History: How teams have performed as No. 6 seed

by:Adam Luckett•about 15 hours•

adamluckettksr

Syndication: The Tennessean — The SEC men’s basketball tournament logo Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. Mandatory credit: © Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kentucky’s run in the SEC Tournament will begin on Thursday in the nightcap at Bridgestone Arena when the Cats face No. 14 Arkansas in the second round. The building should be really electric in Mark Pope‘s debut in this tournament after the Big Blue Nation spends a long day in the honky tonks on Lower Broadway. This fan base’s favorite weekend has arrived.

Pope has stated multiple times that Kentucky is coming to Music City to win this tournament. Is that possible out of the No. 6 seed slot? KSR is taking a closer look at the data since the conference eliminated the division structure in 2012. There have been 12 tournaments in the new format, and the No. 6 seed has had mixed results.

Year	No. 6 seed (KenPom ranking entering tournament)	Results	Final Record
2012	Mississippi State (74)	Lost No. 11 Georgia 71-61	0-1 (Second Round)
2013	Missouri (18)	Win No. 11 Texas A&M 62-50 Loss No. 3 Ole Miss 64-62	1-1 (Quarterfinals)
2014	Ole Miss (95)	Win No. 14 Mississippi State 78-66 Loss No. 3 Georgia 75-73	1-1 (Quarterfinals)
2015	Ole Miss (44)	Loss No. 11 South Carolina 60-58	0-1 (Second Round)
2016	Georgia (78)	Win No. 11 Mississippi State 79-69 Win No. 3 South Carolina 65-64 Loss No. 2 Kentucky 93-80	2-1 (Semifinals)
2017	Ole Miss (77)	Win No. 14 Missouri 86-74 Loss No. 3 Arkansas 73-72	1-1 (Quarterfinals)
2018	Arkansas (36)	Win No. 11 South Carolina 69-64 Win No. 3 Florida 80-72 Loss No. 2 Tennessee 84-66	2-1 (Semifinals)
2019	Mississippi State (24)	Win No. 11 Texas A&M 80-54 Loss No. 3 Tennessee 83-76	1-1 (Quarterfinals)
2021	Ole Miss (52)	Win No. 11 South Carolina 76-59 Loss No. 3 LSU 76-73	1-1 (Quarterfinals
2022	Alabama (22)	Loss No. 11 Vanderbilt 82-76	0-1 (Second Round)
2023	Vanderbilt (80)	Win No. 14 LSU 77-68 Win No. 3 Kentucky 80-73 Loss No. 2 Texas A&M 87-75	2-1 (Semifinals)
2024	Florida (28)	Win No. 11 Georgia 85-80 Win No. 3 Alabama 102-88 Win No. 7 Texas A&M 95-90 Loss No. 4 Auburn 86-67	3-1 (Finals)
2025	Kentucky (11)	TBD	TBD

No. 6 seeds are 14-12 overall since the SEC Tournament changed the format. No team has ever won a title from this slot and only Florida reached Sunday. However, three teams in 12 years have won multiple games and reached the semifinals. A No. 14 seed has never beaten a No. 6 seed. A No. 11 seed has only beaten a No. 6 seed three times.

Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

There have been six No. 6 seeds has earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. Missouri was a No. 9 seed in 2013, Ole Miss was a No. 11 seed in 2015, Arkansas was a No. 7 seed in 2018, Mississippi State was a No. 5 seed in 2019, Alabama was a No. 6 seed in 2022, and Florida was a No. 7 seed in 2024. Those teams were a combined 7-6 in the SEC Tournament with Arkansas and Florida each beating a No. 3 seed on Saturday.

Kentucky enters this tournament as the best No. 6 seed in SEC Tournament history. There has not been a path to a title out of the bottom of the bracket when starting in the second round, but we have seen teams in this slot have a lot of success in the first game and some moderate success in the quarterfinals.