Editing Southeastern Conference (section)

===Basketball tournament===
{{Main|SEC women's basketball tournament|}}

The ''[[SEC women's basketball tournament]]'' is currently held a week before the men's basketball tournament. Like the men's version, it is a single-elimination tournament involving all conference members, with seeding based on regular season records. With the expansion to 14 schools, the bottom four teams in the conference standings play opening-round games, and the top four receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals. The winner earns the conference's automatic bid to the [[NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship|NCAA women's basketball tournament]]. Also paralleling the men's tournament, the women's tournament does not determine the SEC champion; that honor has been awarded based on regular-season record since the 1985–86 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/Portals/3/SEC%20Website/wbasketball/2012-13_sec_wbb_guide.pdf |title=Championships: SEC Champions |work=2012–13 SEC Women's Basketball Media Guide |publisher=Southeastern Conference |page=88 |access-date=May 16, 2013 |quote=From 1980 to 1985, the SEC champion was the winner of the SEC Tournament. Since 1986, the SEC champion has been determined by the regular season schedule.}}</ref> The expansion to 16 teams will result in the addition of two extra games, but the top four teams in the conference standings will continue to receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals.<ref name=SixSports/>

The tournament, inaugurated in 1980, was originally held on campus sites; the first tournament to take place at a neutral site was in 1987. The three most frequent sites for the tournament have been [[McKenzie Arena]] in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]] (seven times), the [[Albany Civic Center]] in [[Albany, Georgia]] (six times), and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (six times). However, the only one of these venues to have hosted the tournament in the 21st century is Bridgestone Arena. Because demand for women's tournament tickets is generally lower than for the men's tournament, it is typically played in a smaller venue than the men's tournament in the same season. The most frequent venues since 2000 have been Bridgestone Arena, [[Gas South Arena]] at [[Duluth, Georgia]] (four), and [[Simmons Bank Arena]] in [[North Little Rock, Arkansas]] (four).