We're sorry, but we couldn’t find any events. Try updating your location and date range, or use more general keywords.
SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
Each March, the best teams in the Southeastern Conference descend upon Nashville, Tennessee, to participate in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament. Since 2013, the tournament has been held almost every year at the Bridgestone Arena, which first opened in 1996 and seats 19,395 for basketball. The arena will continue to host the SEC Tournament through 2030, with the exception of 2022, when it is hosted at Tampa's Amalie Arena.
SEC Men's Basketball Tournament History
Since 1933, the Southeastern Conference has been one of the premiere conferences in all of college athletics. For the first two decades of its existence, the SEC held an annual conference tournament, with Adolph Rupp's Kentucky team winning it 13 times between 1933 and 1952. From 1951 until the late 1970s, round-robin play in the regular season determined the SEC champion, and it continues to be the official determiner of the conference title, with the tournament deciding an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The conference tournament resumed in 1979, with the Tennessee Volunteers defeating the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats 75-69 in overtime at the championship game. The winner of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament has gone on to win the NCAA championship five times, with Kentucky winning both events in 1948, 1959 and 1998, and Florida winning both in 2006 and 2007.
The 2008 tournament was notable for many reasons, including a tornado strike on the Georgia Dome as it hosted a quarterfinal game between Mississippi State and Alabama. While the game resumed within an hour, damage to the dome was extensive enough for the SEC to cancel the final game scheduled that evening, and move the rest of the tournament to the nearby Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Dennis Felton's Georgia team, who'd finished with a 4-12 conference mark that season, took advantage and went on to win. In 2019, Auburn beat Tennessee 84-63 in the finals, on their way to their first men's Final Four appearance.
Really fun getting to see teams battle it out in the conference tournament in a huge arena like this. Love seeing teams I normally don't have access to go see. Really great time to just watch some basketball.
First time at SEC tourney. Was a really good time. Facility did a good job.
Bridgestone Arena proves again and again why it is the premier arena in North America. However, the SEC needs to rethink its adult beverage policy. Even as someone who abstains, it made it difficult to entertain clients in town during the week and friends/family on the weekend. A great venue became below average.
my friend and i had a great time at the sec mens' basketball dbl header on 3/13/2024! bridgestone is always good and the games were great, great seats as we arrived early at the general admission game so had great center court seats. so very much fun!
Best ever...I've been going to the tournament for years and this was the best attended and most enjoyable first day ever. One big reason...the $1 ticket offer from the Preds. The arena, which is usually empty on the first day, was full. This creates a much better atmosphere for both the players and the fans. Another big positive of the discounted ticket offer was that the stands were packed with kids who ordinarily would not be able to come to these games because the tickets are too expensive. A lot of these kids were highlighted on the big screen and could see that they were having a blast.
We bought GA tickets. Ushers told us we could sit anywhere, but if a person approached with a seat assigned ticket we would have to move. OK, no big deal. It didn’t happen to us, but some people had tickets that wanted to sit in their assigned seat. Some people moved, some did not. Ushers had a hard time with it. I’m sure this was happening all over the arena and if I had bought an assigned ticket I would want to sit in the seat I paid for. DO NOT SELL assigned seats on the first night if you are not going to accommodate the ticket holders that have them. Make it ALL General Admission the first night if SEC is trying to fill seats, assigned seating rest of the tournament.
The last time I attended an SEC basketball game the game was called during the second game due to COVID. This years event was nicely done and well attended. One of the most competitive tournaments as well. The staff was helpful and friendly almost like they missed us.
I really like the electronic tickets. It works great for those of us who are SEC alumni. We can get still purchase tickets even if we aren't SEC established purchasers. I am comfortable purchasing from ticket master, instead of those "other" sellers. I also like the Assembly Food Hall being close by the arena.
It was a great game, however alcohol was not allowed in seats so they shouldn’t have even sold it.. it left tons of people out on second level drinking and not even watching the game. Love Bridgestone except for that rule
There was no clear signage of where to purchase alcoholic beverages and none of the staff had a clue where to point us. Once we found the sky lounge ( rooftop parking lot) we could buy a beer but we had to drink it in shame on the roof. What’s the point of buying lower level tickets if I have to watch the game on a TV in the parking lot. I wish I would have known this information before purchasing my tickets.
