The 1979 SEC men's basketball tournament took place in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, at the

Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. This tournament marks the first SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament held since the event’s hiatus that started after the 1952 tournament. The

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

won the tournament championship game, and received the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by beating the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

in a 75–69 overtime win on March 3, 1979. The tournament took place from February 28 to March 3, 1979.2014-2015 Southeaastern Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide, page 134"1978-79 Tennessee Volunteers Roster and Stats , College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com"
/ref> After the SEC tournament ended, Tennessee was ranked number 20 in the Associated Press polls. With the return of the SEC tournament, the SEC awarded the winner of the tournament the SEC Tournament Championship and the conference's NCAA tournament bid. The conference continued to award the SEC Championship to the team with the best conference record during the regular season.

Television coverage

The 1979 tournament marks the first time that the SEC tournament was covered through television. Television coverage of the tournament was produced by The C.D. Chesley Company, who syndicated the coverage of the games regionally over 30 television stations. C.D. Chesley was known as the pioneer in syndicated college basketball broadcasts as he started production of the first package of

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

basketball telecasts in the late 1950s.

Bracket

“1978-79 Southeastern Conference Schedule and Results”Sports-reference.com
Retrieved August 23, 2015.2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, page 103.2014-15 Tennessee Basketball Record Book, pages 103 and 109.

All-tournament team

*G -

Kyle Macy Kyle Paul Macy (born April 9, 1957) is an American basketball commentator. He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball, Purdue Boilermakers and Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball, Kentucky Wildcats, and spent seven y ...

, UK (MVP) *G - Truman Claytor, UK *F - Terry Crosby, TENN *F -

Reginald King Reginald MacDonnell King (1869–1955) was a solicitor politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Early life Reginald MacDonnell King was born on 9 April 1869 in Brisbane, the son of Thomas Mul ...

, ALA *F - John Stroud, MISS

References

{{1979 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox SEC men's basketball tournament 1978–79 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season Basketball competitions in Birmingham, Alabama College basketball tournaments in Alabama SEC Basket