2021–22 Southeastern Conference women's basketball season

The 2021–22 SEC women's basketball season began in December 2021, following the start of the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play concluded in February, followed by the 2022 SEC women's basketball tournament at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, in March.[1] This was the 40th season since the SEC first sponsored women's sports, including basketball, in the 1982–83 school year.

2021–22 SEC women's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams14
WNBA draft
Regular season
2022 SEC championsSouth Carolina
Season MVPAliyah Boston, South Carolina
Tournament
ChampionsKentucky
  Runners-upSouth Carolina
Finals MVPRhyne Howard, Kentucky
Basketball seasons
2022–23 →
2021–22 SEC women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 1 South Carolina 15 1   .938 35 2   .946
No. 9 LSU 13 3   .813 26 6   .813
No. 18 Tennessee 11 5   .688 25 9   .735
Ole Miss 10 6   .625 23 9   .719
Florida 10 6   .625 21 11   .656
Georgia 9 7   .563 21 10   .677
No. 15 Kentucky 8 8   .500 19 12   .613
Missouri 7 9   .438 18 13   .581
Arkansas 7 9   .438 18 14   .563
Alabama 6 10   .375 20 14   .588
Mississippi State 6 10   .375 15 14   .517
Texas A&M 4 12   .250 14 15   .483
Vanderbilt 4 12   .250 16 19   .457
Auburn 2 14   .125 10 18   .357
2022 SEC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

In August 2021, the SEC announced policies regarding game cancellations related to COVID-19. In the event a team is unable to begin or complete a regular season conference event, due to the unavailability of participants (from COVID-19, injuries or other reasons), that team will forfeit the contest and will be assigned a loss in the conference standings. The opposing team that is ready to play will be credited with a win in the standings. Both teams will be deemed to have played and completed the contest for purpose of the standings. If both teams are unable to compete, both teams shall be deemed to have forfeited the game, with a loss assigned to both teams and applied to the standings.[2]

Pre-season

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Pre-season team predictions

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Media[3] Coaches[4]
1. South Carolina
2. Tennessee Texas A&M
3. Texas A&M Tennessee
4. Kentucky Georgia
5. Georgia Kentucky
6. Arkansas Ole Miss
7. LSU Arkansas
8. Ole Miss LSU
9. Mississippi State
10. Alabama Missouri
11. Missouri Florida
12. Florida Alabama
13. Auburn
14. Vanderbilt

Pre-season All-SEC teams

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Media[3] Coaches[4]
Rhyne Howard, Kentucky Howard
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Lavender Briggs, Florida
Shakira Austin, Ole Miss
Khayla Pointer, LSU
Rickea Jackson, Mississippi State
Rae Burrell, Tennessee
Zia Cooke, South Carolina
  • Coaches select eight players
  • Player in bold is choice for SEC Player of the Year

Head coaches

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Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team Head coach Previous job Seasons at school Overall record SEC record NCAA tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA championships
Alabama Kristy Curry Texas Tech 9th 133–118 46–82 1 0 0
Arkansas Mike Neighbors Washington 5th 78–50 28–35 1 0 0
Auburn Johnnie Harris Texas (associate HC) 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Florida Kelly Rae Finley Florida (asst.) 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Georgia Joni Taylor Georgia (asst.) 7th 119–65 54–40 3 0 0
Kentucky Kyra Elzy Kentucky (associate HC) 2nd 18–9 9–6 1 0 0
LSU Kim Mulkey Baylor 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Mississippi State Doug Novak Mississippi State (asst.) 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Missouri Robin Pingeton Illinois State 12th 189–151 69–73 4 0 0
Ole Miss Yolett McPhee-McCuin Jacksonville 4th 31–57 7–39 0 0 0
South Carolina Dawn Staley Temple 13th 331–103 152–54 9 3 1
Tennessee Kellie Harper Missouri State 3rd 38–18 19–10 1 0 0
Texas A&M Gary Blair Arkansas 19th 430–170 100–42 15 1 1
Vanderbilt Shea Ralph UConn (asst.) 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0

Postseason

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SEC tournament

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  • March 2–6 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Teams are seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion.
2022 SEC women's basketball tournament seeds and results
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First Round
March 2
Second Round
March 3
Quarterfinals
March 4
Semifinals
March 5
Championship
March 6
1 ‡†South Carolina 15–1 27–1 Bye Bye vs. #8 Arkansas
W, 76–54
vs. #4 Ole Miss
W, 61–51
vs. #7 Kentucky
L, 62–64
2 LSU 13–3 25–4 Bye Bye vs. #7 Kentucky
L, 63–78
3 Tennessee 11–5 22–7 Bye Bye vs. #11 Alabama
W, 74–59
vs. #7 Kentucky
L, 74–83
4 Ole Miss 10–6 22–7 1–0 vs. UF Bye Bye vs. #5 Florida
W, 70–60
vs. #1 South Carolina
L, 51–61
5 #Florida 10–6 21–9 0–1 vs. OM Bye vs. #13 Vanderbilt
W, 53–52
vs. #4 Ole Miss
L, 60–70
6 #Georgia 9–7 20–9 Bye vs. #11 Alabama
L, 62–74
7 #Kentucky 8–8 16–11 Bye vs. #10 Mississippi State
W, 88–67
vs. #2 LSU
W, 78–63
vs. #3 Tennessee
W, 83–74
vs. #1 South Carolina
W, 64–62
8 #Arkansas 7–9 18–12 2–0 vs. MU Bye vs. #9 Missouri
W, 61–52
vs. #1 South Carolina
L, 54–76
9 #Missouri 7–9 18–12 0–2 vs. ARK Bye vs. #8 Arkansas
L, 52–61
10 #Mississippi State 6–10 15–14 1–0 vs. ALA Bye vs. #7 Kentucky
L, 67–88
11 Alabama 6–10 17–12 0–1 vs. MSU vs. #14 Auburn
W, 75–68
vs. #6 Georgia
W, 74–62
vs. #3 Tennessee
L, 59–74
12 Texas A&M 4–12 14–15 1–0 vs. VU vs. #13 Vanderbilt
L, 69–85
13 Vanderbilt 4–12 14–18 0–1 vs. TAMU vs. #12 Texas A&M
W, 85–69
vs. #5 Florida
L, 52–53
14 Auburn 2–14 10–18 vs. #11 Alabama
L, 68–75
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed
† – Received a double-bye in the conference tournament
# – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament
Overall records include all games played in the tournament.

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament

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  • March 16 – April 3
Seed Bracket School First round Second round Sweet 16 Elite 8 Final Four Championship
1 Greensboro South Carolina vs. #16 Howard
W, 79–21
vs. #8 Miami
W, 49–23
vs. #5 North Carolina
W, 69–61
vs. #10 Creighton
W, 80–50
vs. #1W Louisville
W, 72–59
vs. #2B UConn
W, 64–49
3 Spokane LSU vs. #14 Jackson State
W, 83–77
vs. #6 Iowa State
L, 64–79
4 Wichita Tennessee vs. #13 Buffalo
W, 80–67
vs. #12 Belmont
W, 70–67
vs. #1 Louisville
L, 64–76
6 Greensboro Georgia vs. #11 Dayton
W, 70–54
vs. #3 Iowa State
L, 44–67
6 Bridgeport Kentucky vs. #11 Princeton
L, 62–69
7 Wichita Ole Miss vs. #10 South Dakota
L, 61–75
10 Bridgeport Florida vs. #7 UCF
L, 52–69
10 Spokane Arkansas vs. #7 Utah
L, 69–92
# Bids: 8 W-L (%): TOTAL: 10–7 (.588) 4–4 (.500) 2–2 (.500) 1–1 (.500) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000)

Women's National Invitation Tournament

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  • March 16 – April 1
School First round
March 16
Second round
March 20
Third round
March 24
Quarterfinals
March 27
Alabama vs. Troy
W, 82–79
vs. Tulane
W, 81–77
vs. Houston
W, 79–64
vs. South Dakota State
L, 73–78
Missouri vs. Drake
L, 78–83OT
Vanderbilt vs. Murray State
W, 73–47
vs. Liberty
W, 71–45
vs. Middle Tennessee State
L, 53–55

References

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  1. ^ "2022 SEC Women's Basketball Conference Schedule" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. September 9, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  2. ^ "SEC Establishes Event Cancellation Policies". SEC Sports. August 30, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Media tabs South Carolina as 2022 SEC favorite" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. October 19, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Coaches Tab USC as 2022 SEC Women's Basketball Champion" (Press release). October 26, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.