1979 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1979 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament took place in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. This tournament marks the first SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament held since the event’s hiatus that started after the 1952 tournament.
| 1979 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 1978–79 |
| Teams | 10 |
| Site | Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama |
| Champions | Tennessee Volunteers [1] (4th title) |
| Winning coach | Don DeVoe (1st title) |
| MVP | Kyle Macy (Kentucky) |
| Television | The C.D. Chesley Company [2] |
| 1978–79 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 7 LSU | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 23 | – | 6 | .793 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tennessee † | 12 | – | 6 | .667 | 21 | – | 12 | .636 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vanderbilt | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 18 | – | 9 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alabama | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 22 | – | 11 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mississippi State | 11 | – | 7 | .611 | 19 | – | 9 | .679 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kentucky | 10 | – | 8 | .556 | 19 | – | 12 | .613 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia | 7 | – | 11 | .389 | 14 | – | 14 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ole Miss | 6 | – | 12 | .333 | 11 | – | 16 | .407 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Auburn | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 13 | – | 16 | .448 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida | 3 | – | 15 | .167 | 8 | – | 19 | .296 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 1979 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Tennessee Volunteers won the tournament championship game, and received the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by beating the Kentucky Wildcats in a 75–69 overtime win on March 3, 1979. The tournament took place from February 28 to March 3, 1979. [4][5] After the SEC tournament ended, Tennessee was ranked number 20 in the Associated Press polls. [6]
Television coverage of the championship game was produced by The C.D. Chesley Company, who syndicated the coverage of the game regionally. C.D. Chesley was known as the pioneer in syndicated college basketball as he started production of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball in the 1950s.
Scores
Tennessee and LSU had double byes in this tournament, so those two teams didn't play in the tournament until the semifinals on March 2nd.
First Round
- Alabama 81, Florida 64
- Kentucky 82, Mississippi 77
- Georgia 75, Mississippi State 72
- Auburn 59, Vanderbilt 53 [7]
Quarterfinals
- Kentucky 101, Alabama 100
- Auburn 95, Georgia 91 (4OT) [5]
All-tournament team
- G - Kyle Macy, UK (MVP)
- G - Truman Claytor, UK
- F - Terry Crosby, TENN
- F - Reginald King, ALA
- F - John Stroud, MISS
References
- "Tennessee Volunteers Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com"
- 1979 Tennessee vs. Kentucky on YouTube. (1979 SEC Tournament Championship Game)
- sports-reference.com 1978-79 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
- 2014-2015 Southeaastern Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide, page 134
- "1978-79 Tennessee Volunteers Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com"
- 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, page 111.
- “1978-79 Southeastern Conference Schedule and Results”. Sports-reference.com. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, page 103.
- 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, pages 103 and 109.