ChompTalk.com

With less than one week until Selection Sunday, all eyes are now on conference tournaments to see who will punch their tickets to the big dance and find themselves in the 68-team field.

For the SEC, one of the power five (or six, if you want to include the Big East) conferences, the question is not who will be in. It’s how many teams will be in, and where they will be seeded.

Heading into the tournament, which starts on March 13th in Nashville, the SEC is practically guaranteed six teams, all of whom, unsurprisingly, are the top six seeds in the tournament.

At the top of the field are the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers (24-7, 14-4 SEC). Led by Wooden Award contender senior guard Dalton Knecht, the Volunteers would have a shot at a No. 1 seed in March if they won the tournament.

The remaining top five seeds are all ranked, and likely will be highly seeded on Sunday.

This includes the No. 9 Kentucky Volunteers (23-8, 13-5 SEC), the No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide (21-10, 13-5 SEC) and the No. 15 Auburn Tigers (24-7, 13-5 SEC), all of whom earned double-byes in the SEC tournament due to their top four seeding.

The number five and six seeds in the tournament, respectively, are the No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks (25-6, 13-5 SEC) and the Florida Gators (21-10, 11-7 SEC).

Both of these two teams do not have determined Second Round opponents yet, as the bottom four seeds will face off in Wednesday’s First Round to see who will advance.

For the Gators, the opponent will either be the Georgia Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) or the Missouri Tigers (8-24, 0-18 SEC).

Meanwhile, the Gamecocks will face the winner of the matchup between the Arkansas Razorbacks (15-16, 6-12 SEC) and the Vanderbilt Commodores (9-22, 4-14 SEC).

With the top six seeds practically locked in Sunday’s field, much of the attention is focused on seeds 7 through 10 in Nashville.

The 9-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs (19-12, 8-10 SEC) are likely the SEC’s best chance at a seventh-bid.

If the Bulldogs dispatch the 8-seed LSU Tigers (17-14, 9-9 SEC), they have a great shot at making the tournament. Advancing even further would likely guarantee it.

Meanwhile, the Tigers would likely need to at least make the finals to garner any at-large consideration.

The highest non-top six seed is the 7-seeded Texas A&M Aggies (18-13, 9-9 SEC). The Aggies are a projected bubble team, with many favoring them to miss the 68-team field.

However, if the Aggies make a run, they might play themselves into major consideration. They face the 10-seeded Ole Miss Rebels (20-11, 7-11 SEC) in the Second Round.

The Rebels, along with LSU, Georgia, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Missouri, would likely need to win the tournament and the auto-bid to sneak into the 68-team field.

The SEC Championship takes place on Selection Sunday.

Who will come into March Madness with the momentum that winning a conference tournament gives you? Will we see a surprise bid-stealer? And who will put themselves in position to win big in March? Much is to be determined in Nashville this week.