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
ClassificationDivision I
Season1978–79
Teams10
SiteBirmingham-Jefferson Civic Center
Birmingham, Alabama
ChampionsTennessee Volunteers [1] (4th title)
Winning coachDon DeVoe (1st title)
MVPKyle Macy (Kentucky)
TelevisionThe C.D. Chesley Company [2]
1978–79 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 7 LSU14–4 .778  23–6  .793
Tennessee †12–6 .667  21–12  .636
Vanderbilt11–7 .611  18–9  .667
Alabama11–7 .611  22–11  .667
Mississippi State11–7 .611  19–9  .679
Kentucky10–8 .556  19–12  .613
Georgia7–11 .389  14–14  .500
Ole Miss6–12 .333  11–16  .407
Auburn5–13 .278  13–16  .448
Florida3–15 .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

Quarterfinals
  • Kentucky 101, Alabama 100
  • Auburn 95, Georgia 91 (4OT) [5]

Semifinals

Championship game
  • Tennessee 75, Kentucky 69 (OT) [5][9]

All-tournament team
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References
  1. "Tennessee Volunteers Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com"
  2. 1979 Tennessee vs. Kentucky on YouTube. (1979 SEC Tournament Championship Game)
  3. sports-reference.com 1978-79 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
  4. 2014-2015 Southeaastern Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide, page 134
  5. "1978-79 Tennessee Volunteers Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com"
  6. 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, page 111.
  7. “1978-79 Southeastern Conference Schedule and Results”. Sports-reference.com. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  8. 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, page 103.
  9. 2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, pages 103 and 109.
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