Mizzou will be No. 8 seed in SEC Tournament
After Oklahoma beat Texas, the SEC Tournament seeding for Mizzou is finally set.
The Tigers will be the No. 8 seed and will play the winner of No. 16 seed LSU and No. 9 seed Kentucky at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
Coming into the final week of the regular season, Mizzou controlled its destiny to reach the No. 3 seed, which would have been the highest of the Dennis Gates era in Columbia and the highest seed in Mizzou’s history in the SEC.
But instead, the Tigers went 0-2 in the final two games and tumbled down the seeding list on the final day of the regular season.
The seeding throughout the conference remained up in the air throughout the final two weeks, with three schools ending with 11 wins and another three ending with 10.
Mizzou beat Kentucky 73-68 on the road on Jan. 7, but lost to LSU three games later, 78-70, on the road.
If the Tigers were to win their second-round matchup with LSU or Kentucky, they would move on to face top-seeded Florida at noon on Friday.
The SEC Tournament semifinals will start at noon on Saturday, then the championship will be at noon on Sunday.
Gates is 2-3 all time in the SEC Tournament. In his first year with the Tigers, No. 4 seed Mizzou beat Tennessee in its quarterfinal matchup, but lost to Alabama in the semifinals. In his second year, No. 14 seed Mizzou lost to Georgia in the opening round. Then in his third year, No. 7 seed Mizzou beat Mississippi State in the second round before losing to Florida in the quarterfinals.