It’s the final countdown. Or whatever that song from the eighties said. All eight teams are in action on the same day for one final time in the 2025-2026 season. Let’s get to it.
Latest Bracketology
The most talked about storyline in the SEC when it comes to bracketology is one team and one team only – the Auburn Tigers. Auburn has been in the field for almost every projection until this week. The team they’re directly competing with at 16-14 is 29-0 Miami (OH). The argument does actually have some depth to it.
Auburn has the third ranked hardest strength of schedule in the country, and Miami is ranked No. 284. They have played nobody this season. They have the fewest Quad 1 (0) and Quad 2 wins this season of any team considered for the tournament at a grand total of – one. Not only do they have only one win, they’ve only played one Quad 1 and Quad 2 game all year. Auburn only has four Quad 1 wins on the season, but they’ve played 15 of their 30 games against Quad 1 competition.
It’s a very interesting storyline over the last nine days before selection Sunday. Here’s a look at the latest bracketology from On3 and where each SEC team is currently projected.
No. 2 Florida
No. 4 Alabama
No. 5 Arkansas
No. 5 Tennessee
No. 5 Vanderbilt
No. 7 Kentucky
No. 8 Georgia
No. 10 Texas A&M
No. 10 Missouri
No. 11 Texas
No. 11 Auburn (Last Four In)
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 3, 2026
Best Storyline – Who will end up as the SEC scoring champion?
The top three scorers in the SEC are all separated by .8 points per game. Arkansas freshman Darius Acuff leads everyone with 666 points and 22.2 ppg. Alabama sophomore Labaron Philon is right behind at 21.5 and just .1 ppg ahead of Mississippi State Guard Josh Hubbard (21.4). Philon has played two less games than Acuff and Hubbard, and Hubbard trails Acuff by 23 points on the year.
Both those players have 40+ point games this season, but could we see Hubbard have yet another career night for State and take the title from him?
Darius Acuff on ESPN College Gameday this morning 📺 pic.twitter.com/fInAwH5twE
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB) February 28, 2026
Game of the Week – Alabama at Auburn
There are several options here on the final Saturday. Tennessee and Vandy face off in Knoxville, but even with a Tennessee loss they have a very strong likelihood and path to a double bye in the SEC tournament. One of the games that would directly impact that double bye is another option, Arkansas at Missouri.
Those are both great games against tournament teams that should at least make it to Friday in next week’s SEC tournament. Neither of those games are the Iron Bowl though. The Iron Bowl of Basketball to be more specific. A win over Alabama puts Auburn comfortably back in the tournament and out of a play-in game on Tuesday night of the tournament.
On the other side of that, Alabama has a chance to not only beat Auburn but potentially put another nail in their coffin and take them out of postseason play. It will be a home game in Coleman Coliseum which is normally great for a game like this, but it’s worth noting that the visiting team has won the last three games in a row in this series.
Fridge is ready for whatever the IBOB throws at me pic.twitter.com/DvMG2SWeCJ
— Riley (@Ri_S_OB) February 15, 2025
Who’s on upset alert? Texas
Texas hosts Oklahoma on Saturday in another big rivalry game. Just a few weeks ago Porter Moser was on the hot seat after starting SEC play at 1-9. The Sooners have turned things around dramatically winning five of their last seven games. Four of those five wins have been by double digits. Texas isn’t playing bad basketball, but they aren’t playing very well right now either. The Longhorns have lost three of their last four by nearly an average of 15 ppg.
Texas is 18-12 and currently in the projected field for the NCAA tournament. The Sooners have not been in the conversation to make the tournament at all for the last several months. A win against Texas would greatly improve their chances.
OH MY MO 😯 pic.twitter.com/sPqcEWlHH8
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) March 4, 2026
Lock of the Week
The lock of the week is 9-1 this season. Nine and one, y’all. We aren’t going to stop making picks, as we’ll continue on throughout the SEC Tournament next week. Jacob Hester and I will also be making daily picks during the NCAA Tournament. It’s not like we need to overcompensate here and make any rash decisions. That being said, I definitely want to get greedy here and make several picks to close out the regular season.
We won’t though. The only loss this season came on a weekend where we made multiple plays in the same day, so we are going to learn from our mistakes and choose one.
Alabama -5.5
