2017 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament begins today: How to watch, bracket and Open Thread

The Alabama women’s basketball team (17-12, 5-11 SEC) has made improvements over last year’s showing, when the team went 4-12 in conference play and finished 15-16 after a round one loss in the WNIT.

The No. 12-seed Tide face a must-win today versus the No. 13 Vanderbilt Commodores (18-14, 5-11) at 10:00 Central on ESPN’s SEC Network. The game is also streamed via WatchESPN. Today’s winner faces No. 5 Kentucky tomorrow afternoon. The Wildcats have an SEC Bye.

Why is today a must-win? March 1st also coincides with the starting day for a brand new athletic director: Greg Byrne is known for being a very aggressive administrator, and you have to think that a few underperforming programs, including women’s hoops, will get closer scrutiny beginning today. So, yes, this is a must-win, not only to show that the program is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly, but for Kristy Curry. This is her first winning season for the Tide after four years of hovering below .500. A respectable showing today, and then hopefully a win or two the WNIT, would go a long way to solidifying her position at the Capstone.

Roll Tide

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ESPN