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.

2015–16 SEC Men's Basketball Season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams14
TV partner(s)CBS, ESPN, SEC Network
Regular Season
2016 SEC ChampionsKentucky and Texas A&M
Season MVPTyler Ulis, Kentucky
Top scorerStefan Moody
Tournament
ChampionsKentucky
  Runners-upTexas A&M
Finals MVPTyler Ulis, Kentucky
2015–16 SEC men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 15 Texas A&M13–5 .722  28–9  .757
No. 10 Kentucky †13–5 .722  27–9  .750
South Carolina11–7 .611  25–9  .735
Vanderbilt11–7 .611  19–14  .576
LSU11–7 .611  19–14  .576
Ole Miss10–8 .556  20–12  .625
Georgia10–8 .556  20–14  .588
Florida9–9 .500  21–15  .583
Arkansas9–9 .500  16–16  .500
Alabama8–10 .444  18–15  .545
Mississippi State7–11 .389  14–17  .452
Tennessee6–12 .333  15–19  .441
Auburn5–13 .278  11–20  .355
Missouri*3–15 .167  10–21  .323
*Ineligible for postseason play due to self-imposed postseason ban.
† 2016 SEC Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason
SEC recruits at the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game
Antonio Blakeney, LSU
Isaiah Briscoe, Kentucky
P. J. Dozier, South Carolina
Malik Newman, Mississippi State
Ben Simmons, LSU

On March 15, 2015, Anthony Grant was fired from Alabama.[1] 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.[2] The following day, the university officially announced Johnson's hiring.[3]

On March 21, 2015 Rick Ray was fired by Mississippi State.[4] On March 24, 2015, Ben Howland was hired as the 20th head coach of Mississippi State replacing Ray.[5]

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.[6] 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,[7] replacing Scott Brooks who previously coached the Thunder for seven seasons.[8] On May 7, 2015, Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White was named as Donovan's replacement.

Media Day selections
Media[9]
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[9]
Danuel House Texas A&M
Damian Jones Vanderbilt
Skal Labissière Kentucky
Stefan Moody Ole Miss
Ben Simmons LSU
Tyler 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 Championships
Alabama Avery Johnson Brooklyn Nets 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Arkansas Mike Anderson Missouri 5th 86–48 39–31 1 0 0
Auburn Bruce Pearl Tennessee 2nd 15–20 4–14 0 0 0
Florida Mike White Louisiana Tech 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Georgia Mark Fox Nevada 7th 105–88 51–51 2 0 0
Kentucky John Calipari Memphis 7th 190–38 82–20 5 4 1
LSU Johnny Jones North Texas 4th 61–37 29–25 1 0 0
Mississippi State Ben Howland UCLA 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Missouri Kim Anderson Central Missouri 2nd 9–23 3–15 0 0 0
Ole Miss Andy Kennedy Cincinnati 10th 192–114 78–72 2 0 0
South Carolina Frank Martin Kansas State 4th 64–56 21–41 0 0 0
Tennessee Rick Barnes Texas 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Texas A&M Billy Kennedy Murray State 5th 71–61 26–28 0 0 0
Vanderbilt Kevin Stallings Illinois State 17th 313–206 127–135 6 0 0

Rankings
Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
Main article: 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
 PreWk
2		Wk
3		Wk
4		Wk
5		Wk
6		Wk
7		Wk
8		Wk
9		Wk
10		Wk
11		Wk
12		Wk
13		Wk
14		Wk
15		Wk
16		Wk
17		Wk
18		Wk
19		Final
Alabama AP
C
Arkansas AP
C RV RV
Auburn 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 16
LSU 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.[10]

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

Alabama Arkansas Auburn Florida Georgia Kentucky LSU Mississippi State Missouri Ole Miss South Carolina Tennessee Texas A&M Vanderbilt
vs. Alabama –1–01–10–11–02–01–11–10–11–01–11–00–11–0
vs. Arkansas 0–1–1–01–01–01–01–11–10–21–01–00–21–00–1
vs. Auburn 1–10–1–1–01–10–11–01–01–02–01–01–11–02–0
vs. Florida 1–00–10–1–0–22–01–10–10–00–21–01–01–02–0
vs. Georgia 0–10–10–22–0–1–01–00–10–21–10–20–11–01–0
vs. Kentucky 0–20–11–00–20–1–1–10–10–10–10–11–11–01–1
vs. LSU 1–11–10–11–10–11–1–0–10–10–11–01–01–10–1
vs. Miss. State 1–11–10–11–01–01–01–0–0–10–21–11–02–00–1
vs. Missouri 1–02–00–11–02–01–01–01–0–2–01–10–12–01–0
vs. Ole Miss 0–10–10–22–01–11–01–02–00–2–1–00–11–00–1
vs. South Carolina 1–10–10–10–12–01–00–11–11–10–1–1–10–10–1
vs. Tennessee 1–02–01–10–11–01–10–10–11–01–01–1–1–02–0
vs. Texas A&M 1–01–10–10–10–10–11–10–20–20–11–00–1–1–1
vs. Vanderbilt 0–11–00–20–20–11–11–01–00–11–01–00–21–1–
Total 8–109–95–139–910–813–511–77–113–1510–811–76–1213–511–7

Postseason

SEC Tournament
Main article: 2016 SEC Men's Basketball 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 will involve only 13 teams after Missouri self-imposed a postseason ban.

2016 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament seeds and results
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First Round
March 9		 Second Round
March 10		 Quarterfinals
March 11		 Semifinals
March 12		 Championship
March 13
1. ‡Texas A&M 13–5 24–7 1–0 vs. Kentucky Bye Bye vs. #8 Florida
W, 72–66		 vs. #4 LSU
W, 71–38		 vs. #2 Kentucky
L, 77–82OT
2. †Kentucky 13–5 23–8 0–1 vs. Texas A&M Bye Bye vs. #10 Alabama
W, 85–59		 vs. #6 Georgia
W, 93–80		 vs. #1 Texas A&M
W, 82–77OT
3. †South Carolina 11–7 24–7 2–0 vs. LSU/Vanderbilt Bye Bye vs. #6 Georgia
L, 64–65
4. †LSU 11–7 18–13 1–1 vs. S. Carolina/Vanderbilt Bye Bye vs. #12 Tennessee
W, 84–75		 vs. #1 Texas A&M
L, 38–71
5. #Vanderbilt 11–7 19–13 0–2 vs. South Carolina/LSU Bye vs. #12 Tennessee
L, 65–67
6. #Georgia 10–8 17–12 2–0 vs. South Carolina Bye vs. #11 Mississippi State
W, 79–69		 vs. #3 South Carolina
W, 65–64		 vs. #2 Kentucky
L, 80–93
7. Ole Miss 10–8 20–11 0–1 vs. South Carolina Bye vs. #10 Alabama
L, 73–81
8. #Florida 9–9 19–13 1–0 vs. Arkansas Bye vs. #9 Arkansas
W, 68-61		 vs. #1 Texas A&M
L, 66-72
9. #Arkansas 9–9 16–16 0–1 vs. Florida Bye vs. #8 Florida
L, 61-68
10. #Alabama 8–10 17–13 Bye vs. #7 Ole Miss
W, 83-71'		 vs. #2 Kentucky
L, 59-85
11. #Mississippi St. 7–11 14–16 Bye vs. #6 Georgia
L, 69-79
12. Tennessee 6–12 15–18 vs. #13 Auburn
W, 97–59		 vs. #5 Vanderbilt
W, 67–65		 vs. #4 LSU
L, 75-84
13. Auburn 5–13 11–19 vs. #12 Tennessee
L, 59–97
‡ – 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
Main article: 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Seed Region School First Four First Round Second Round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
3 West Texas A&M vs. #14 Green Bay
W, 92–65 (Oklahoma City)		 vs. #11 Northern Iowa
W, 92–88 (Oklahoma City)		 vs. #2 Oklahoma
L 63–77 (Anaheim)
4 East Kentucky vs. #13 Stony Brook
W, 85–67 (Des Moines)		 vs. #5 Indiana
L, 67–73 (Des Moines)
11 South Vanderbilt vs. #11 Wichita State
L, 50–70 (Dayton)
3 Bids W-L (%): 0–1 .000 2–0 1.000 1–1 .500 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – TOTAL: 3–3 .500

National Invitation Tournament
Main article: 2016 National Invitation Tournament
Seed Bracket School First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
1 South Carolina/San Diego State Quadrant South Carolina vs. #8 High Point
W, 88–66 (Columbia)		 vs. #4 Georgia Tech
(Columbia)
2 Monmouth/Florida Quadrant Florida vs. #7 North Florida
W, 97–68 (Jacksonville)		 vs. #3 Ohio State
W, 74–66 (Columbus)		 vs. #4 George Washington
L, 77–82 (Washington D.C.)
3 Valparaiso/Saint Mary's Quadrant Georgia vs. #6 Belmont
W, 93–84 (Athens)		 vs. #2 St. Mary's
L, 65–77 (Moraga)
5 St. Bonaventure/BYU Quadrant Alabama vs. #4 Creighton
L, 54–72 (Omaha)
4 Bids W-L (%): 3–1 .750 1–2 .333 0–1 .000 0–0 – TOTAL: 4–4 .500

NBA Draft
Main article: 2016 NBA Draft

Honors and awards

All-Americans
Main article: 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball 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.

Coaches
2016 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards[11]
Award Recipient(s)
Player of the Year Tyler Ulis, So., G, Kentucky
Coach of the Year Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M
Defensive Player of the Year Tyler Ulis, So., G, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year Ben Simmons, F, LSU
Scholar-Athlete of the Year Retin Obasohan, Sr., G, Alabama
Sixth Man Award Duane Notice, Jr., G, South Carolina
2016 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams[11]
First Team Second Team All-Freshman Team All-Defensive Team
Michael Carrera Sr., F, South Carolina
Jalen Jones Sr., F, Texas A&M
Damian Jones Jr., F, Vanderbilt
Stefan Moody Sr., G, Ole Miss
Jamal Murray Fr., G, Kentucky
Ben Simmons Fr., F, LSU
Retin Obasohan Sr., G, Alabama
Tyler Ulis So., G, Kentucky
 Wade Baldwin So., G, Vanderbilt
Alex Caruso Sr., F, Texas A&M
Dorian Finney-Smith Sr., F, Florida
J. J. Frazier Sr., G, Georgia
Danuel House Sr., F, Texas A&M
Moses Kingsley Jr., C, Arkansas
Yante Maten So., F, Georgia
Kevin Punter Jr., G, Tennessee
 KeVaughn Allen Florida
Antonio Blakeney LSU
Tyler Davis Texas A&M
D. J. Hogg Texas A&M
Jamal Murray Kentucky
Kevin Puryear Missouri
Ben Simmons LSU
Quinndary Weatherspoon Miss. State
 Alex Caruso Sr., F, Texas A&M
Luke Kornet Jr., F, Vanderbilt
Moses Kingsley Jr., C, Arkansas
Retin Obasohan Sr., G, Alabama
Sindarius Thornwell Jr., G, South Carolina
Tyler Ulis So., G, Kentucky
† - denotes unanimous selection

References
  1. Parrish, Gary (15 March 2015). "Alabama fires Anthony Grant". CBS Sports. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  2. Goodman, Jeff (April 5, 2015). "Sources: Avery Johnson to coach Tide". ESPN. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  3. Smith, Jordan; Dover, Drew (April 6, 2015). "Avery Johnson officially named Alabama men's basketball coach". WBRC. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  4. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12530618/rick-ray-fired-mississippi-state-bulldogs-basketball-coach
  5. "Howland named MSU's 20th head basketball coach". HailState.com. 2015-03-25.
  6. Termination letter at Tennessee
  7. "Thunder Names Billy Donovan Head Coach". NBA. April 30, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  8. Young, Royce (April 30, 2015). "Billy Donovan agrees to coach Thunder". ESPN. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  9. "Media picks Kentucky to win SEC" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  10. "Major violations found at Missouri; penalties imposed by school". ESPN.com. January 13, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  11. 2016 SEC Men’s Basketball Awards Announced, accessed March 8, 2016
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