A preview of the Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament:

        TEAM TO BEAT: Kentucky, the old favorite. The Wildcats have won 22 SEC Tournament championships, and this season's takes place in Nashville, Tenn., just a three-hour drive from Lexington. If the intangibles aren't enough, then maybe putting together win streaks of seven and eight games in the second half of the season is a compelling argument for the Cats.

BRACKETS

• Atlantic 10   • Conference-USA   • Mid-American   • Southeastern

        DARKHORSE: Arkansas. It's rare for a defending tournament champion to be an underdog, but that's the kind of year this is in the SEC. The Hogs (19-9) have won five straight games, and they're shooting the lights out: They were 10-of-21 on 3-pointers against UK last week and 13-of-26 from long range Saturday vs. Georgia.

        MOST TO PROVE: Georgia, without question. The Bulldogs have only 16 wins and have lost six of their last nine games. But they boasted an RPI of 15 (on collegeRPI.com) heading into the weekend. A few wins now could go a long way.

        TOUGHEST DRAW: Alabama (20-9), the West's No.3 seed, has lost four straight games and needs a boost to get off the bubble. Bad news, Tide fans: 'Ba ma's first-round game is against Vanderbilt (which could be tough in Nashville, mind you), and its second-round game would be Florida. That's trouble for a desperate team.

        WEAKEST DRAW: Any team with a first-round bye should consider itself blessed. The most fortunate team just might be Florida, the No.2 seed in the East. Its first game will be against generally dreadful Vanderbilt or waning Alabama, and its semifinal opponent probably will be Mississippi. T MOST LIKELY MVP: Tayshaun Prince. UK's junior forward has been the key to Kentucky's run through the conference. He averages 16.1 points a game (heading into Florida), and when the Cats have needed a big play, they've turned to him and he has delivered. When has been off his game — such as last week, when he shot 5-of-15 at Arkansas — UK has struggled.

        PLAYER ON THE SPOT: Tony Harris. The tattooed, tough-talking point guard is the very embodiment of the physical Vols, who, despite their 21-9 overall record, have fallen out of the Top 25 and need to win back some respect after their 8-8 league record. Oh, and don't forget: The tournament's in the Volunteer State.

Southeastern Conference tournament schedule

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