2012 SEC men's basketball tournament

The 2012 SEC men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southeastern Conference held from March 8–11, 2012 in New Orleans at the New Orleans Arena.

2012 SEC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2011–12
Teams	12
Site	New Orleans Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions	Vanderbilt (2nd title)
Winning coach	Kevin Stallings (1st title)
MVP	John Jenkins (Vanderbilt)
Attendance	154,526
Television	SEC Network (syndicated, first two rounds) ABC (semifinals and final)
SEC men's basketball tournaments

2011–12 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 1 Kentucky	16	–	0		1.000			38	–	2		.950
No. 25 Florida	10	–	6		.625			26	–	11		.703
No. 20 Vanderbilt †	10	–	6		.625			25	–	11		.694
Tennessee	10	–	6		.625			19	–	15		.559
Alabama	9	–	7		.563			21	–	12		.636
Mississippi State	8	–	8		.500			21	–	12		.636
Ole Miss	8	–	8		.500			20	–	14		.588
LSU	7	–	9		.438			18	–	15		.545
Arkansas	6	–	10		.375			18	–	14		.563
Auburn	5	–	11		.313			15	–	16		.484
Georgia	5	–	11		.313			15	–	17		.469
South Carolina	2	–	14		.125			10	–	21		.323
† 2012 SEC tournament winner As of April 2, 2012 Rankings from AP poll

Tournament notes

This was also the first year teams were seeded #1 through #12, as the conference eliminated divisional play prior to the season, although the 2011–12 schedule was still structured based upon the divisions used from 1991–92 through 2010–11.

This was the last SEC tournament to have 12 teams. The addition of Missouri and Texas A&M from the Big 12 Conference had been announced prior to the season.

Television coverage

The first round and quarterfinal rounds were televised through the ESPN Regional Television-operated SEC Network through regional syndication. The semifinals and final were broadcast nationally on ABC.

Seeds

As of completed games on March 4. Applies tiebreaker as best as possible.

2012 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker
1.	Kentucky ‡ †	16–0	30–1
2.	Tennessee †	10–6	18–13	1–1 vs VAN; 2–0 vs FLA; Total 3–1
3.	Vanderbilt †	10–6	21–10	1–1 vs TEN; 1–1 vs FLA; Total 2–2
4.	Florida †	10–6	22–9	1–1 vs VAN; 0–2 vs TEN; Total 1–3
5.	Alabama	9–7	20–10
6.	Mississippi State	8–8	21–10	1–1 vs MISS; 1–0 vs TEN
7.	Ole Miss	8–8	18–12	1–1 vs MSU; 0–1 vs TEN
8.	LSU	7–9	17–13
9.	Arkansas	6–10	18–13
10.	Auburn	5–11	15–15	1–0 vs UGA
11.	Georgia	5–11	14–16	0–1 vs AUB
12.	South Carolina	2–14	10–20
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a bye in the conference tournament. Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup#	Television	Attendance
First Round - Thursday, March 8
1	1	12:00 PM	#8 LSU vs. #9 Arkansas	SEC Network	10,703
	2	2:30 PM	#5 Alabama vs. #12 South Carolina	SEC Network
2	3	6:30 PM	#7 Ole Miss vs. #10 Auburn	SEC Network	10,197
	4	9:00 PM	#6 Mississippi State vs. #11 Georgia	SEC Network
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 9
3	5	12:00 PM	#1 Kentucky vs. #8 LSU	SEC Network	18,207
	6	2:30 PM	#4 Florida vs. #5 Alabama	SEC Network
4	7	6:30 PM	#2 Tennessee vs. #7 Ole Miss	SEC Network	10,526
	8	9:00 PM	#3 Vanderbilt vs. #11 Georgia	SEC Network
Semifinals - Saturday, March 10
5	9	12:00 PM	#1 Kentucky vs. #4 Florida	ABC	18,523
	10	2:30 PM	#7 Ole Miss vs. #3 Vanderbilt	ABC
Championship Game - Sunday, March 11
6	11	12:00 PM	#1 Kentucky vs. #3 Vanderbilt	ABC	18,114
*Game Times in CT[1]. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round March 8, 2012 SEC Network					Quarterfinals March 9, 2012 SEC Network					Semifinals March 10, 2012 ABC					Championship Game March 11, 2012 ABC
						1	#1 Kentucky	60
						8	LSU	51
	8	LSU	70
	9	Arkansas	54
											1	#1 Kentucky	74
											4	#22 Florida	71
						4	#22 Florida	66
						5	Alabama	63
	5	Alabama	63
	12	South Carolina	57
																1	#1 Kentucky	64
																3	Vanderbilt	71
						2	Tennessee	72
						7	Ole Miss	77OT
	7	Ole Miss	68
	10	Auburn	54
											7	Ole Miss	53
											3	Vanderbilt	65
						3	Vanderbilt	63
						11	Georgia	41
	6	Mississippi State	61
	11	Georgia	71

SEC All-tournament team

• John Jenkins, Vanderbilt MVP
• Erik Murphy, Florida
• Bradley Beal, Florida
• Terrence Jones, Kentucky
• Anthony Davis, Kentucky
• Lance Goulbourne, Vanderbilt