The SEC women's basketball regular season ends on Sunday, and then next week, the league's teams will head to Greenville for the SEC Tournament. Going into their regular season finale at Auburn, Mississippi State women's basketball has a 6-9 record in the SEC. What seed could they end up with in the SEC Tournament?
What seed will the Mississippi State Bulldogs be in the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament?
Sorting out the seeding possibilities for the Bulldogs in Greenville is actually quite simple. There's a clear pecking order between State and the teams immediately surrounding them that makes laying out the potential outcomes easy.
As it stands currently, Mississippi State is 10th in the SEC with their 6-9 record. At 9th, with a 7-8 record, are the Vanderbilt Commodores. State owns a head-to-head win over the 'Dores should a tiebreaker come into play. At 11th are the Florida Gators with an SEC record of 5-10. The Gators own a head-to-head win over the Bulldogs in the case of a tiebreaker.
All three teams will be on the road to close the regular season. On Sunday MSU travels to Auburn, Vanderbilt travels to Missouri, and Florida travels to Texas. So here are the possible scenarios and the resulting seed for the Bulldogs...
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt both win
If both the Bulldogs and Commodores were to win on Sunday, as they'd be expected to, their present order would stay the same given Vandy's one-game lead over MSU. State would be the 10-seed.
Mississippi State wins and Vanderbilt loses
This is your best case scenario. In this case, State and VU both finish 7-9 in the SEC, so State's head-to-head win would push them ahead. State would be the 9-seed.
Mississippi State and Florida both lose
If State loses to Auburn, there's no chance at moving up, so their attention would then turn to Florida. With a Bulldog loss, you have to hope the Gators lose at Texas, like they probably will, to keep the present seeding constant. State would be the 10-seed with this outcome.
Mississippi State loses and Florida wins
Finally, your worst case scenario. If the Gators were to stun the Longhorns and State suffered a loss at Auburn, Florida would move ahead of MSU in the standings by virtue of their head-to-head win. The Bulldogs end up as an 11-seed here.
Four potential scenarios, three possible outcomes for Mississippi State. We'll see how things ultimately shake out on Sunday.