2021-22 SEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Week 18

The seedings are set for the 2022 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, and all eyes are set on Tampa, Fla. for what is sure to be an interesting week of SEC basketball.

The field for the 2022 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament is set, and while there were some last-minute shifts, nothing too dramatically out of the expected took place.

Auburn clinched the SEC regular-season title last week, finishing conference play with a record of 15-3. Kentucky took second in the conference with its 14-4 record while Tennessee placed third, also with a 14-4 record.

One shakeup had Alabama drop from a 5-seed to a 6-seed in the tournament thanks to back-to-back losses to Texas A&M and at LSU. More on that below. LSU, meanwhile, jumped up to the 5-seed spot.

Regardless, we're in for an interesting SEC Tournament. While teams like Auburn and Kentucky seem almost unbeatable right now, Tennessee and Arkansas have a solid case to win this year. Couple that in with several rising teams like LSU and Texas A&M and defending champion Alabama, and it looks like we're going to have an entertaining week of conference basketball coming up.

Here are the biggest winners and losers this week:

Biggest winner: Texas A&M — With wins at No. 25 Alabama and against Mississippi State last week, the Aggies vaulted from 10th in the SEC way up to sixth. That being said, Texas A&M will still be an 8-seed in this week's SEC Tournament and will have to face 9-seed Florida. It's a tall task, but no doubt Texas A&M will look to increase its winning streak for a quarterfinal matchup against 1-seed Auburn.

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Biggest loser: Alabama — It had one job. All the Crimson Tide had to do was win one of its two games last week to secure a 5-seed in the SEC Tournament. However, Alabama chose not to do that, falling to Texas A&M and at LSU. Fortunately, things still worked out in the end, with the Crimson Tide falling to become a 6-seed. Alabama will play the winner of Wednesday's Georgia/Vanderbilt game and will be favored to win, but a matchup with 3-seed Kentucky the following day looms large.

2021-22 SEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Week 18

1. Auburn (27-4 overall, 15-3 SEC)

2. Kentucky (25-6, 14-4)

3. Tennessee (23-7, 14-4)

4. Arkansas (24-7, 13-5)

5. LSU (21-10, 9-9)

6. Alabama (19-12, 9-9)

7. Texas A&M (20-11, 9-9)

8. Florida (19-12, 9-9)

9. South Carolina (18-12, 9-9)

10. Mississippi State (17-14, 8-10)

11. Vanderbilt (15-15, 7-11)

12. Missouri (11-20, 5-13)

13. Ole Miss (13-18, 4-14)

14. Georgia (6-25, 1-17)

This Week's SEC Schedule: March 6-12, 2022

For this week's SEC Tournament schedule, see the graphic below: