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The wait is over: you'll finally get to see your South Carolina Gamecocks in action. The third-seeded Gamecocks take on the Georgia Bulldogs this evening (around 9:30 ET) in the final quarterfinal matchup of the day. But the one, two and four seeds - Texas A&M, Kentucky, and LSU, respectively - see their road to a conference title begin as well.
How To Watch and Live Stream
All quarterfinal contests will be shown on the SEC Network and streamed live on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app. Brad Nessler and Sean Farnham have the early sessions, while John Saunders and Jon Sundvold are on the night games. Kaylee Hartung will work the sidelines for all four games. The tournament will shift to ESPN tomorrow as the semifinals get underway.
Updated Bracket
Check out the updated bracket right here.
Quarterfinal Preview
More on the Gamecocks/Bulldogs matchup a little later today, but here's a look at the other three games:
(1) Texas A&M Aggies vs. (8) Florida Gators, 1pm ET
Kasey Hill and Dorian Finney-Smith were key to the Gators' second-round victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks yesterday, and that was without John Egbunu at full strength (Egbunu gutted out a 24-minute performance despite tearing a thumb ligament right before the tournament). They'll need to bring that and more against the top-seeded Aggies, who bring their senior star trio - Jalen Jones, Danuel House and Alex Caruso - to the table. The Ags won a 71-68 squeaker against the Gators in College Station back on January 12.
(4) LSU Tigers vs. (12) Tennessee Volunteers, approx. 3:30pm ET
Could the Vols be the tournament dark horse? They handled Auburn easily on Wednesday before taking down fifth-seeded Vanderbilt yesterday in a game that saw a potential game-tying bucket for the 'Dores waved off. Detrick Mostella and Armani Moore have been driving the bus in Kevin Punter's absence, but they'll be going up against a Tiger team led by super-frosh Ben Simmons, and if they don't contain him, it will be a long afternoon. However, LSU will be without key contributor Keith Hornsby, and the Vols did beat them at Thompson-Bolling on February 20, so don't be so quick to pencil the Tigers through to the next round.
The Texas A&M/Florida winner will play the LSU/Tennessee winner tomorrow in the first semifinal.
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(2) Kentucky Wildcats vs. (10) Alabama Crimson Tide, 7pm ET
Credit to Bama on their win over Ole Miss last night, and keeping in mind that this is far from John Calipari's most talented Wildcats team, but they simply have more talent - Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Alex Poythress, Skal Labissiere, etc. - than the Tide do. Kentucky ran past Alabama quite easily during their two regular season meetings, and this sets up to be a clean sweep. The 'Cats shouldn't have too much trouble in this one.
The Kentucky/Alabama winner will play the South Carolina/Georgia winner tomorrow in the second semifinal.