WBB Seeding Scenarios

By Weinman - With the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team playing host to South Carolina for both teams’ regular season finale Sunday, the seeding picture for the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament -- which has been nothing short of a mess during the stretch run -- is finally taking shape, at least as far as Vanderbilt is concerned.

• With a win....
A Vanderbilt win on Sunday guarantees the Commodores a top-four seed and first-round bye in the SEC Tournament.

A win coupled with a Mississippi State loss (at LSU) would give Vanderbilt sole possession of third place in the league. If both Vanderbilt and Mississippi State win, the Lady Bulldogs would take the head-to-head tiebreaker and earn the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament, with the Commodores getting the fourth seed.

• With a loss....
A Vanderbilt loss on Sunday would open up the possibility of the Commodores placing fifth or even sixth. But should Vanderbilt fall to South Carolina, the Commodores could still take fourth place with a loss by LSU (vs. Mississippi State). In this case, a Georgia victory (vs. Arkansas) would give VU and UGA the same 9-7 record, but the Commodores would take fourth based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

If a Vanderbilt loss is coupled with a win by LSU (and loss by Georgia), the Commodores would get the five seed. In that scenario, Mississippi State wins a three-way tie and LSU gets the four seed after taking the head-to-head tiebreaker over Vanderbilt.

A Vanderbilt loss grouped with wins by both LSU and Georgia would bump the Commodores all the way to sixth place. Again Mississippi State would win the four-way tiebreaker and get the No. 3 seed. Vanderbilt, Georgia and LSU are then all 1-1 against each other in a three-way tie, and tiebreaker 3B comes into effect (best winning percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 team, proceeding down through the No. 12 team if necessary). Georgia would get the No. 4 seed based on their win over top seed Tennessee, and LSU would get the No. 5 seed with the head-to-head win over Vandy.

• Shorthand summary....
VU Tourney Seed... based on Sunday Results
Third... MSU loss, VU win
Fourth... MSU win
Fifth... VU loss, LSU win, UGA loss
Sixth... VU loss, LSU win, UGA win

In the above summary, only the necessary results are listed. Ex: Whether VU wins or loses Sunday, an MSU victory makes the Commodores the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. Special thanks to the Tennessean's Jeff Lockridge for helping to figure all this out.