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.

Preseason

On March 15, 2015, Anthony Grant was fired from Alabama. 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. The following day, the university officially announced Johnson's hiring.
On March 21, 2015 Rick Ray was fired by Mississippi State. On March 24, 2015, Ben Howland was hired as the 20th head coach of Mississippi State replacing Ray.
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. 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, replacing Scott Brooks who previously coached the Thunder for seven seasons. On May 7, 2015, Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White was named as Donovan's replacement.

Media Day selections

first place votes

Pre-season All-SEC teams

Media
Danuel House Texas A&M
Damian Jones Vanderbilt
Skal Labissière Kentucky
Stefan Moody Ole Miss
Ben Simmons LSU
Tyler Ulis Kentucky

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.
TeamHead coachPrevious jobSeasons at schoolOverall recordSEC recordNCAA TournamentsNCAA Final FoursNCAA Championships
AlabamaAvery JohnsonBrooklyn Nets1st0–00–0000
ArkansasMike AndersonMissouri5th86–4839–31100
AuburnBruce PearlTennessee2nd15–204–14000
FloridaMike WhiteLouisiana Tech1st0–00–0000
GeorgiaMark FoxNevada7th105–8851–51200
KentuckyJohn CalipariMemphis7th190–3882–20541
LSUJohnny JonesNorth Texas4th61–3729–25100
Mississippi StateBen HowlandUCLA1st0–00–0000
MissouriKim AndersonCentral Missouri2nd9–233–15000
Ole MissAndy KennedyCincinnati10th192–11478–72200
South CarolinaFrank MartinKansas State4th64–5621–41000
TennesseeRick BarnesTexas1st0–00–0000
Texas A&MBilly KennedyMurray State5th71–6126–28000
VanderbiltKevin StallingsIllinois State17th313–206127–135600

Rankings

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.

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
AlabamaArkansasAuburnFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLSUMiss. StateMissouriOle MissS. CarolinaTennesseeTexas A&MVanderbilt
vs. Alabama–1–01–10–11–02–01–11–10–11–01–11–00–11–0
vs. Arkansas0–1–1–01–01–01–01–11–10–21–01–00–21–00–1
vs. Auburn1–10–1–1–01–10–11–01–01–02–01–01–11–02–0
vs. Florida1–00–10–1–0–22–01–10–10–00–21–01–01–02–0
vs. Georgia0–10–10–22–0–1–01–00–10–21–10–20–11–01–0
vs. Kentucky0–20–11–00–20–1–1–10–10–10–10–11–11–01–1
vs. LSU1–11–10–11–10–11–1–0–10–10–11–01–01–10–1
vs. Miss. State1–11–10–11–01–01–01–0–0–10–21–11–02–00–1
vs. Missouri1–02–00–11–02–01–01–01–0–2–01–10–12–01–0
vs. Ole Miss0–10–10–22–01–11–01–02–00–2–1–00–11–00–1
vs. South Carolina1–10–10–10–12–01–00–11–11–10–1–1–10–10–1
vs. Tennessee1–02–01–10–11–01–10–10–11–01–01–1–1–02–0
vs. Texas A&M1–01–10–10–10–10–11–10–20–20–11–00–1–1–1
vs. Vanderbilt0–11–00–20–20–11–11–01–00–11–01–00–21–1–
Total8–109–95–139–910–813–511–77–113–1510–811–76–1213–511–7

Post season

SEC 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.

NCAA tournament

SeedRegionSchoolFirst FourFirst RoundSecond RoundSweet 16Elite EightFinal FourChampionship
3WestTexas A&Mvs. #14 Green Bay
W, 92–65 		vs. #11 Northern Iowa
W, 92–88 		vs. #2 Oklahoma
L 63–77
4EastKentuckyvs. #13 Stony Brook
W, 85–67 		vs. #5 Indiana
L, 67–73
11SouthVanderbiltvs. #11 Wichita State
L, 50–70
3 BidsW-L :0–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 TOTAL: 3–3

National Invitation Tournament

SeedBracketSchoolFirst RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
1South Carolina/San Diego State QuadrantSouth Carolinavs. #8 High Point
W, 88–66 		vs. #4 Georgia Tech
2Monmouth/Florida QuadrantFloridavs. #7 North Florida
W, 97–68 		vs. #3 Ohio State
W, 74–66 		vs. #4 George Washington
L, 77–82
3Valparaiso/Saint Mary's QuadrantGeorgiavs. #6 Belmont
W, 93–84 		vs. #2 St. Mary's
L, 65–77
5St. Bonaventure/BYU QuadrantAlabamavs. #4 Creighton
L, 54–72
4 BidsW-L :3–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 TOTAL: 4–4

NBA Draft

Honors and awards

Players of the Week

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.
AP

First Team
USBWA

First Team
Second Team
NABC

First Team
Sporting News

First Team
Second Team

Coaches