2015–16 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

The 2015–16 SEC men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2016 and concluding in March, after which 13 member teams had participated in the 2016 SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, with the tournament champion being guaranteed selection to the 2016 NCAA tournament.

Preseason

On March 15, 2015, Anthony Grant was fired from Alabama. On April 5, 2015, ESPN reported that Avery Johnson had verbally agreed to become the new head basketball coach at the University of Alabama, replacing Grant. The following day, the university officially announced Johnson's hiring.

On March 21, 2015 Rick Ray was fired by Mississippi State. On March 24, 2015, Ben Howland was hired as the 20th head coach of Mississippi State replacing Ray.

On March 27, 2015, Tennessee fired Donnie Tyndall after the NCAA notified Tennessee officials of possible NCAA violations at Southern Miss. The violations centered around improper financial aid for two players, as well as academic problems with junior college transfers. According to a copy of Tyndall's termination letter, Tyndall had lied to Tennessee officials about the extent of the violations on several occasions, and had also deleted several emails from an old email account even though he was aware he would have been questioned about activity on that account by the NCAA.Termination letter at Tennessee At a press conference announcing Tyndall's firing, athletics director Dave Hart said that he would have never hired Tyndall had the true extent of the violations at Southern Miss been known. Texas head coach Rick Barnes was named Tyndall's replacement.

On April 30, 2015, Billy Donovan agreed to a $30 million, multi-year deal to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder, replacing Scott Brooks who previously coached the Thunder for seven seasons. On May 7, 2015, Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White was named as Donovan's replacement.

Media Day selections Media 1. Kentucky 2. Vanderbilt 3. Texas A&M 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Florida 7. South Carolina 8. Mississippi State 9. Ole Miss 10. Auburn 11. Arkansas 12. Tennessee 13. Alabama 14. Missouri

() first place votes

Preseason All-SEC teams

Media Danuel House Texas A&MDamian Jones VanderbiltSkal Labissière KentuckyStefan Moody Ole MissBen Simmons LSUTyler Ulis Kentucky Coaches select 8 players Players in bold are choices for SEC Player of the Year

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 Seasons at school Overall record SEC record NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsAlabama Avery Johnson Brooklyn Nets 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Arkansas Mike Anderson Missouri 5th 86–48 39–31 1 0 0Auburn Bruce Pearl Tennessee 2nd 15–20 4–14 0 0 0Florida Mike White Louisiana Tech 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Georgia Mark Fox Nevada 7th 105–88 51–51 2 0 0Kentucky John Calipari Memphis 7th 190–38 82–20 5 4 1LSU Johnny Jones North Texas 4th 61–37 29–25 1 0 0Mississippi State Ben Howland UCLA 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Missouri Kim Anderson Central Missouri 2nd 9–23 3–15 0 0 0Ole Miss Andy Kennedy Cincinnati 10th 192–114 78–72 2 0 0South Carolina Frank Martin Kansas State 4th 64–56 21–41 0 0 0Tennessee Rick Barnes Texas 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Texas A&M Billy Kennedy Murray State 5th 71–61 26–28 0 0 0Vanderbilt Kevin Stallings Illinois State 17th 313–206 127–135 6 0 0

Rankings + Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous week

Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 FinalAlabama AP C Arkansas AP C RV RVAuburn AP C Florida AP RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV Georgia AP C Kentucky AP 2 2 1 1 5 4 12 10 9 14 23 20 20 22 14 16 22 16 10 C 1 2 1 1 4 4 11 11 8 13 19 19 19 21 14 14 19 16 13 16LSU AP 21 23 22 RV C 19 19 17 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV Mississippi State AP C Missouri AP C Ole Miss AP C South Carolina AP RV RV RV 25 24 22 19 24 RV 25 RV RV RV C RV RV 25 23 20 20 15 23 22 23 20 23 RV RV RV Tennessee AP C Texas A&M AP RV RV 25 18 RV 24 21 20 21 15 10 5 8 15 RV 21 20 C RV RV RV 20 25 24 19 19 17 14 8 5 8 13 24 21 18 17 15 Vanderbilt AP 18 17 19 16 21 RV RV RV RV C 20 17 16 13 16 23 25 RV

SEC regular season On January 13, 2016, Missouri announced that it would not participate in any postseason play in 2016, including the SEC Tournament. At the time, the Tigers were facing an NCAA investigation into major rules violations that occurred under the tenure of former head coach Frank Haith.

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. AlabamaArkansasAuburnFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLSUMississippi StateMissouriOle MissSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexas A&MVanderbiltvs. Alabama – 1–01–10–11–02–01–11–10–11–01–11–00–11–0vs. Arkansas0–1 – 1–01–01–01–01–11–10–21–01–00–21–00–1vs. Auburn1–10–1 – 1–01–10–11–01–01–02–01–01–11–02–0vs. Florida1–00–10–1 – 0–22–01–10–10–00–21–01–01–02–0vs. Georgia0–10–10–22–0 – 1–01–00–10–21–10–20–11–01–0vs. Kentucky0–20–11–00–20–1 – 1–10–10–10–10–11–11–01–1vs. LSU1–11–10–11–10–11–1 – 0–10–10–11–01–01–10–1vs. Miss. State1–11–10–11–01–01–01–0 – 0–10–21–11–02–00–1vs. Missouri1–02–00–11–02–01–01–01–0 – 2–01–10–12–01–0vs. Ole Miss0–10–10–22–01–11–01–02–00–2 – 1–00–11–00–1vs. South Carolina1–10–10–10–12–01–00–11–11–10–1 – 1–10–10–1vs. Tennessee1–02–01–10–11–01–10–10–11–01–01–1 – 1–02–0vs. Texas A&M1–01–10–10–10–10–11–10–20–20–11–00–1 – 1–1vs. Vanderbilt0–11–00–20–20–11–11–01–00–11–01–00–21–1 – Total 8–10 9–9 5–13 9–9 10–8 13–5 11–7 7–11 3–15 10–8 11–7 6–12 13–5 11–7

Postseason

SEC Tournament

The conference tournament is scheduled for Wednesday–Sunday, March 9–13, 2016 at the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee. 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.

The tournament involved only 13 teams after Missouri self-imposed a postseason ban.

{| class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%;" |- | colspan="10" style="text-align:center; background:#DDDDDD; font:#000000" | 2016 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results |- bgcolor="#efefef" ! Seed ! School ! Conf. ! Over. ! Tiebreaker ! First roundMarch 9 ! Second roundMarch 10 ! QuarterfinalsMarch 11 ! SemifinalsMarch 12 ! ChampionshipMarch 13 |- |1. | ‡Texas A&M |13–5 |24–7 |1–0 vs. Kentucky | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #8 FloridaW, 72–66 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #4 LSUW, 71–38 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #2 KentuckyL, 77–82OT |- |2. | †Kentucky |13–5 |23–8 |0–1 vs. Texas A&M | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #10 AlabamaW, 85–59 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaW, 93–80 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #1 Texas A&MW, 82–77OT |- |3. | †South Carolina |11–7 |24–7 |2–0 vs. LSU/Vanderbilt | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaL, 64–65

|4. | †LSU |11–7 |18–13 |1–1 vs. S. Carolina/Vanderbilt | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeW, 84–75 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #1 Texas A&ML, 38–71

|5. | #Vanderbilt |11–7 |19–13 |0–2 vs. South Carolina/LSU | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeL, 65–67

|7. | #|Ole Miss |10–8 |20–11 |0–1 vs. South Carolina | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #10 AlabamaL, 73–81

| 9. | #Arkansas|9–9 |16–16 |0–1 vs. Florida | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #8 FloridaL, 61-68|

|11. | #Mississippi St.|7–11 |14–16 | | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaL, 69-79|

|13. | Auburn|5–13 |11–19 | | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeL, 59–97

| colspan="10" style="text-align:left;|‡ – 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.

NCAA tournament

Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship3WestTexas A&Mvs. #14 Green BayW, 92–65 (Oklahoma City)vs. #11 Northern IowaW, 92–88 (Oklahoma City)vs. #2 OklahomaL 63–77 (Anaheim)4EastKentucky vs. #13 Stony BrookW, 85–67 (Des Moines)vs. #5 IndianaL, 67–73 (Des Moines)11SouthVanderbiltvs. #11 Wichita StateL, 50–70 (Dayton) 3 BidsW-L (%):0–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 TOTAL: 3–3

National Invitation Tournament

Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals 1 South Carolina/San Diego State Quadrant South Carolinavs. #8 High PointW, 88–66 (Columbia)vs. #4 Georgia Tech(Columbia) 2 Monmouth/Florida Quadrant Floridavs. #7 North FloridaW, 97–68 (Jacksonville)vs. #3 Ohio StateW, 74–66 (Columbus)vs. #4 George WashingtonL, 77–82 (Washington D.C.) 3 Valparaiso/Saint Mary's Quadrant Georgiavs. #6 BelmontW, 93–84 (Athens)vs. #2 St. Mary'sL, 65–77 (Moraga) 5 St. Bonaventure/BYU Quadrant Alabamavs. #4 CreightonL, 54–72 (Omaha) 4 BidsW-L (%):3–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 TOTAL: 4–4

NBA draft

PG Point guard SG Shooting guard SF Small forward PF Power forward C Center

Player Team Round Pick # Position School NationalityBen SimmonsPhiladelphia 76ers11PF/PGLSUJamal MurrayDenver Nuggets7PG/SGKentuckyWade Baldwin IVMemphis Grizzlies17PGVanderbiltSkal LabissièrePhoenix Suns28PF/CKentuckyDamian JonesGolden State Warriors30CVanderbiltTyler UlisPhoenix Suns234PGKentucky

Honors and awards

Players of the Week

All-Americans

Starting on March 6, the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans were released for 2015–16 season, based upon selections by the four major syndicates. The four syndicates include the Associated Press, USBWA, NABC, and Sporting News.APFirst TeamUSBWAFirst TeamBen Simmons, LSUSecond TeamTyler Ulis, KentuckyNABCFirst TeamSporting NewsFirst TeamTyler Ulis, KentuckySecond Team''' Ben Simmons, LSU

All-SEC awards and teams

Coaches

2016 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards2016 SEC Men’s Basketball Awards Announced, accessed March 8, 2016 Award Recipient(s)Player of the YearTyler Ulis, So., G, KentuckyCoach of the YearBilly Kennedy, Texas A&MDefensive Player of the YearTyler Ulis, So., G, KentuckyFreshman of the YearBen Simmons, F, LSUScholar-Athlete of the YearRetin Obasohan, Sr., G, AlabamaSixth Man AwardDuane Notice, Jr., G, South Carolina

2015–16 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

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