2021–22 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

The 2021–22 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2021, followed by the start of the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 9. Conference play started in late December and will end in March, after which 14 member teams will participate in the 2022 SEC men's basketball tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The tournament champion is guaranteed a selection to the 2022 NCAA tournament.

2021–22 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	CBS, ESPN, SEC Network
Regular season
Tournament
Venue	Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Champions	Tennessee
Runners-up	Texas A&M

2021–22 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 14 Auburn	15	–	3		.833			28	–	6		.824
No. 16 Kentucky	14	–	4		.778			26	–	8		.765
No. 15 Tennessee †	14	–	4		.778			27	–	8		.771
No. 8 Arkansas	13	–	5		.722			28	–	9		.757
LSU	9	–	9		.500			22	–	12		.647
Alabama	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
South Carolina	9	–	9		.500			18	–	13		.581
Texas A&M	9	–	9		.500			27	–	13		.675
Florida	9	–	9		.500			20	–	14		.588
Mississippi State	8	–	10		.444			18	–	16		.529
Vanderbilt	7	–	11		.389			19	–	17		.528
Missouri	5	–	13		.278			12	–	21		.364
Ole Miss	4	–	14		.222			13	–	19		.406
Georgia	1	–	17		.056			6	–	26		.188
† 2022 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Offseason

The season was initially slated to begin on November 10, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prematurely ended the previous season and continues to affect the current one.

Preseason

Recruiting classes

Rankings

Team	ESPN[1]	Rivals[2]	On3 Recruits [3]	Scout/247 Sports[4]	Signees
Alabama
Arkansas	—		-
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
LSU
Kentucky
Missouri
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.

	Wooden	Naismith	Robertson	Cousy[5]	West[6]	Erving[7]	Malone[8]	Abdul-Jabbar[9]	Olson

Preseason All-American teams

	ESPN	CBS[10]	USA	AP[11]	Blue Ribbon	Athlon Sports[12]	NBC Sports	Street & Smith's	Sporting News[13]	Sports Illustrated[14]

Preseason polls

Main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season § Pre-season polls

	AP[15]	Athlon Sports[16]	Blue Ribbon[17]	CBS Sports[18]	Coaches[19]	ESPN[20]	KenPom[21]	Lindy's Sports[22]	Sports Illustrated[23]	Sporting News[24]
Alabama	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Arkansas	–	–	–		–	–		–		– –
Auburn	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Florida	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Georgia	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Kentucky	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
LSU	–	–	–		–	–		–
Missouri	–	–	–		–	–		–
Mississippi State	–	–	–		–	–		–		– –
Ole Miss	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
South Carolina	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Tennessee	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Texas A&M	–	–	–		–	–		–		–
Vanderbilt	–	–	–		–	–		–		–

SEC Media Day selections

Media poll
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Preseason All-SEC teams

Media

Honorable Mention

Midseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable midseason watch lists.

	John R. Wooden Award	Naismith	Cousy	West	Erving	Malone	Abdul-Jabbar

Final watchlists

Below is a table of notable year end watch lists.

	John R. Wooden Award	Naismith Play of the Year	Naismith Defensive Player of the Year	Cousy	West	Erving	Malone	Abdul-Jabbar

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team	Tournament	Finish
Alabama		-
Arkansas		-
Auburn		-
Florida		-
Georgia		-
Kentucky		-
LSU		-
Mississippi State		-
Missouri		-
Ole Miss		-
South Carolina
Tennessee		-
Texas A&M		-
Vanderbilt		–

Records against other conferences

2021–22 records against non-conference foes as of (November 9, 2021):

Regular season Power Conferences & Gonzaga Record ACC 0–1 Big East 0–0 Big Ten 0–0 Big 12 0–0 Pac-12 0–0 Gonzaga 1–0 Power Conferences Total 1–1 Other NCAA Division I Conferences Record American 0–0 America East 0–0 A-10 0–0 ASUN 2–0 Big Sky 0–0 Big South 1–0 Big West 0–0 CAA 1–0 C-USA 2–0 Horizon 0–0 Ivy League 0–0 MAAC 0–0 MAC 1–0 MEAC 0–0 MVC 0–0 Mountain West 0–0 NEC 0–0 OVC 2–0 Patriot League 0–0 SoCon 1–0 Southland 1–0 SWAC 1–0 The Summit 0–0 Sun Belt 1–0 WAC 0–0 WCC (except Gonzaga) 0–0 Other Division I Total 13–1 Division II Total 0–0 NCAA Division I Total 13–2

Postseason Power Conferences & Gonzaga Record ACC 0–0 Big East 0–0 Big Ten 0–0 Big 12 0–0 Pac-12 0–0 Gonzaga 0–0 Power Conferences Total 0–0 Other NCAA Division I Conferences Record American 0–0 America East 0–0 A-10 0–0 ASUN 0–0 Big Sky 0–0 Big South 0–0 Big West 0–0 CAA 0–0 C-USA 0–0 Horizon 0–0 Ivy League 0–0 MAAC 0–0 MAC 0–0 MEAC 0–0 MVC 0–0 Mountain West 0–0 NEC 0–0 OVC 0–0 Patriot League 0–0 SoCon 0–0 Southland 0–0 SWAC 0–0 The Summit 0–0 Sun Belt 0–0 WAC 0–0 WCC (except Gonzaga) 0–0 Other Division I Total 0–0 NCAA Division I Total 0–0

Big 12/SEC Challenge

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP Poll):

Date	Visitor	Home	Site	Significance	Score	Conference record
Nov 9	No. 10 Kentucky	No. 9 Duke	Madison Square Garden ● New York, NY	Champions Classic	71–79	0–1
Nov 20	Villanova	Tennessee	Mohegan Sun Arena ● Uncasville, CT	Hall of Fame Tip Off	53–71	0–2
Nov 24	UConn	Auburn	Imperial Arena ● Nassau, Bahamas	Battle 4 Atlantis	109–115	0–3
Dec 1	Memphis	Georgia	Stegeman Coliseum ● Athens, GA	―	82–79	1–3
Dec 4	Memphis	Ole Miss	The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss ● Oxford, MS	―	67–63	2–3
Dec 4	Tennessee	Colorado	CU Events Center ● Boulder, CO	―	69–54	3–3
Dec 4	Alabama	Gonzaga	Climate Pledge Arena ● Seattle, WA	—	91-82	4–3
Dec 7	Texas Tech	Tennessee	Madison Square Garden ● New York, NY	―	52–57	4–4
Dec 11	Nebraska	Auburn	State Farm Arena ● Atlanta, GA	―	99–68	5–4
Dec 11	Missouri	Kansas	Allen Fieldhouse ● Lawrence, KS	Border War	65–102	5–5
Dec 11	Kentucky	Notre Dame	Purcell Pavilion ● South Bend, IN	―	62–66	5–6
Dec 11	UConn	Alabama	Coleman Coliseum ● Tuscaloosa, AL	―	83–82	6–6
Dec 12	Florida State	South Carolina	Rock Hill Sports & Event Center ● Rock Hill, SC	—	66–65	7–6
Dec 12	Florida	Maryland	Barclays Center ● Brooklyn, NY	―	68–70	7–7
Dec 14	Alabama	Memphis	FedExForum ● Memphis, TN	―	78–92	7–8
Dec 18	Tennessee	Memphis	Bridgestone Arena ● Nashville, TN	―	CANCELED	―
Dec 18	Ohio State	Kentucky	T-Mobile Arena ● Las Vegas, NV	―	CANCELLED	―
Dec 22	Louisville	Kentucky	Rupp Arena ● Lexington, KY	―	POSTPONED	―
Dec 22	Arizona	Tennessee	Thompson-Boling Arena ● Knoxville, TN	―	77–73	8–8
Dec 22	Illinois	Missouri	Enterprise Center ● St. Louis, MO	―	63-88	8–9

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking

† denotes game was played on neutral site

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Alabama	Arkansas	Auburn	Florida	Georgia	Kentucky	LSU	Mississippi State	Missouri	Ole Miss	South Carolina	Tennessee	Texas A&M	Vanderbilt
vs. Alabama	–	0–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Arkansas	1–0	–	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Auburn	0–2	1–0	–	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Florida	1–0	1–0	1–1	–	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Georgia	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Kentucky	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. LSU	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Miss. State	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Missouri	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Ole Miss	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. South Carolina	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Tennessee	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0	0–0
vs. Texas A&M	0–1	0-1	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–	0–0
vs. Vanderbilt	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	–
Total	9-8	13–4	14–3	9–8	1–16	13–4	8–9	8–9	4–13	4–13	9–8	13–4	8–9	6–11

Points scored

Team	For	Against	Difference
Alabama	―	―	―
Arkansas	―	―	―
Auburn	―	―	―
Florida	―	―	―
Georgia	―	―	―
Kentucky	―	―	―
LSU	―	―	―
Missouri	―	―	―
Mississippi State	―	―	―
Ole Miss	―	―	―
South Carolina	―	―	―
Tennessee	―	―	―
Texas A&M	―	―	―
Vanderbilt	―	―	―

Through March 18, 2021^[25]

Rankings

See also: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV		No votes received

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
Alabama	AP	RV
	C	RV
Arkansas	AP	NV
	C	NV
Auburn	AP	NV
	C	NV
Florida	AP	RV
	C	RV
Georgia	AP	RV
	C	RV
Kentucky	AP	RV
	C	RV
LSU	AP	NV
	C	NV
Missouri	AP	13
	C	12
Mississippi State	AP	NV
	C	NV
Ole Miss	AP	NV
	C	NV
South Carolina	AP	2
	C	2
Tennessee	AP	RV
	C	RV
Texas A&M	AP	NV
	C	NV
Vanderbilt	AP	NV
	C	NV

Head coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Season at school	Overall record	SEC record	NCAA tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Alabama	Nate Oats	Buffalo	2	16–15 (.516)	8–10 (.444)	0	0	0
Arkansas	Eric Musselman	Nevada	2	20–12 (.625)	7–11 (.389)	0	0	0
Auburn	Bruce Pearl	Tennessee	7	125–78 (.616)	52–56 (.481)	2	1	0
Florida	Mike White	Louisiana Tech	6	108–65 (.624)	54–36 (.600)	3	0	0
Georgia	Tom Crean	Indiana	3	27–37 (.422)	7–29 (.194)	0	0	0
Kentucky	John Calipari	Memphis	12	330–77 (.811)	151–41 (.786)	9	4	1
LSU	Will Wade	VCU	4	64–30 (.681)	35–18 (.660)	1	0	0
Mississippi State	Ben Howland	UCLA	6	98–67 (.594)	43–47 (.478)	1	0	0
Missouri	Cuonzo Martin	California	4	50–46 (.521)	22–32 (.407)	1	0	0
Ole Miss	Kermit Davis	Middle Tennessee	3	35–30 (.538)	16–20 (.444)	1	0	0
South Carolina	Frank Martin	Kansas State	9	147–119 (.553)	66–78 (.458)	1	1	0
Tennessee	Rick Barnes	Texas	6	105–64 (.621)	51–39 (.567)	2	0	0
Texas A&M	Buzz Williams	Virginia Tech	2	16–14 (.533)	10–8 (.556)	0	0	0
Vanderbilt	Jerry Stackhouse	Memphis Grizzlies (asst.)	2	11–21 (.344)	3–15 (.167)	0	0	0

Postseason

SEC tournament

Main article: 2022 SEC men's basketball tournament

• March, 2022 at the Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida. Teams will be seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

2022 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker	First round March 11	Second round March 12	Quarterfinals March 13	Semifinals March 14	Championship March 15
1.	Auburn	15-3	27-4		Bye	Bye
2.	Kentucky	14-4	25-6		Bye	Bye
3.	Tennessee	14-4	23-7		Bye	Bye
4.	Arkansas	14-4	24-7		Bye	Bye
5.	LSU	9-9	21-10		Bye
6.	Alabama	9-9	19-12		Bye
7.	South Carolina	9-9	18-12		Bye
8.	Texas A&M	9-9	21-11		Bye
9.	Florida	9-9	19-12		Bye
10.	Mississippi State	8-10	17-14		Bye
11.	Vanderbilt	7-11	15-15
12.	Missouri	5-13	11-20
13.	Ole Miss	4-14	13-18
14.	Georgia	1-17	6-25
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament.

^[26]

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Teams from the conference were selected to participate:

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
―	―	TBD	–	―	–	–	–	–	–
	Bids	W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

National Invitation tournament

Number from the conference were selected to participate:

Main article: 2022 National Invitation Tournament

Seed	Bracket	School	First round	Second round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
			−	−	−	−	−
	Bid	W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

Index to colors and formatting
SEC member won
SEC member lost

Honors and awards

Players of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	School	Freshman of the Week	School	Ref.
TBD	―	―	―	―
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Totals per School

School	Total
―	―

All-SEC Awards

Coaches

2022 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards[27]
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year	Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
Coach of the Year	Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Defensive Player of the Year	Walker Kessler, Auburn
Freshman of the Year	Jabari Smith Jr., Auburn
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Jordan Wright, Vanderbilt
Sixth Man Award	Tari Eason, LSU

Players

2022 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team	All-Freshman Team	All-Defensive Team
JD Notae, Arkansas Jaylin Williams, Arkansas Walker Kessler, Auburn Jabari Smith Jr., Auburn Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky Tari Eason, LSU Iverson Molinar, Mississippi State Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee Scotty Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt	Jaden Shackelford, Alabama Colin Castleton, Florida TyTy Washington, Kentucky Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky Darius Days, LSU Kobe Brown, Missouri Kennedy Chandler, Tennessee Quenton Jackson, Texas A&M	Charles Bediako, Alabama JD Davison, Alabama Jabari Smith Jr., Auburn TyTy Washington, Kentucky Brandon Murray, LSU Devin Carter, South Carolina Kennedy Chandler, Tennessee Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee	Keon Ellis, Alabama Jaylin Williams, Arkansas Walker Kessler, Auburn Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
† - denotes unanimous selection

Honorable Mention

AP

2022 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards
Award	Recipient(s)
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
Newcomer of the Year

2022 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team
† - denotes unanimous selection

Honorable Mention

All-District

The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) named the following from the Pac-12 to their All-District Teams:

District VIII

All-District Team

District IX

Player of the Year

All-District Team

All-American

Main article: 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans

National awards

2022 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School/club team
−	−				−

Home game attendance

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Game 8	Game 9	Game 10	Game 11	Game 12	Game 13	Game 14	Game 15	Game 16	Game 17	Game 18	Total	Average	% of Capacity
Alabama			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–
Arkansas			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–			–	–	–
Auburn			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Florida			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Georgia			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–
Kentucky			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–
LSU			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–				–	–	–
Missouri			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–
Mississippi State			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–			–	–	–
Ole Miss			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–			–	–	–
South Carolina			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–
Tennessee			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Texas A&M			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Vanderbilt			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total																					–	–	–

Bold – At or exceed capacity
†Season high