SEC Tournament Outlook: LSU WBB's potential path to a championship

If it was up to Kim Mulkey, her team would have a nice long break before the start of the NCAA Tournament instead of having to make a trip to Greenville, South Carolina for the SEC tournament. The Hall of Fame head coach has made it clear how she feels about conference tournaments after playing a full conference schedule. Her team just capped a 27-1 regular season, once again exceeding expectations and fully prepared for the postseason.

“The older I get, I struggle with why do we play conference tournaments?” Mulkey said. “Why do you play them if you’re already in good shape for the postseason? You play them for the Cinderellas. You play them for those that are on the bubble. So I have to motivate this team to understand we’re competitors and we’re going to play for something. I’ve never won an SEC Tournament game as a coach, so our goal is to win one more than [last year].”

Even after a 15-1 conference season, the Tigers still have something to prove in Mulkey’s second year and have something to play for with the NCAA Tournament on the horizon.

Here’s everything to know about the SEC Tournament from LSU’s perspective.

Details to know

The SEC tournament layout is the same for both the mens and the women, but the women go first. The Women’s tournament begins on Wednesday, March 1 with the bottom four teams playing,then runs through Sunday, March 5 for the championship.

As the No. 2 seed, LSU has a double bye, which means the Tigers won’t play until Friday at 5 p.m. Here is the full schedule.

Potential matchups

Now, let’s look at how the tournament can shake out for LSU. The Tigers will await the winner of the game between No. 7 Georgia and No. 10 Auburn on Thursday night. Here is the full bracket.

If LSU wins on Friday, the semifinal game will be Saturday night as the second game in the doubleheader. Mulkey’s team could be in for a game against the No. 3 seed, Tennessee if the Volunteers win their quarterfinal game. When the two met in the regular season, the Tigers won 76-68, fueled by a sold out home crowd. 

A win there and it could set up a rematch for No. 2 LSU and No. 1 South Carolina if the Gamecocks can get past teams like Ole Miss or Mississippi State, both of which pushed the SEC champs in their regular season meetings.

What’s at stake?

Mulkey has been adamant that her team is not getting a one seed because of their non-conference schedule. Despite being No. 3 in the NET for a majority of the season, the Tigers have not been ranked as a No. 1 seed in any of the NCAA Selection Committee reveals so far. Mulkey has gone as far to say that even beating South Carolina won’t even get her team a No. 1 seed.

There’s not a way for LSU to drop to a 3-seed, but I still hold out hope for the Tigers to get a No. 1 seed. Obviously, that would require a win over Tennessee in the semifinals, but after that, there are a few options. A win over South Carolina would put LSU in a great position for a one seed, but even a close loss and some chaos with the others in the top four could do the trick.

Stanford and Utah are on a similar plain as LSU, so if one of them is upset early in the PAC-12 tournament, it could open the door.

The difference between a one and a two seed doesn’t sound significant, but for a team fighting to make a deep tournament run, every advantage matters. We’ll see how this plays out, but it’s certainly worth playing hard for. Does this tournament really matter for LSU? Maybe not to Mulkey, but playing well going into the NCAA Tournament matters and possibly getting a No. 1 seed is all the incentive this team should need to go try to win this.