Several conferences have adopted a gauntlet-style bracket for their postseason basketball tournaments, in which the higher seeds get byes deep into the bracket and lower teams must pick their way through.

The Southeastern Conference is putting the more traditional, figurative spin on the term.

The SEC has four teams in the top 10 of this week’s Associated Press poll and seven in the top 25. The league has been projected to receive as many as 13 bids and three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Navigating that field will be a daunting task for even the best teams, and the one who rises to the top this week in Nashville will be worthy of the crown.

“Right now, there’s a lot of teams fighting for their lives to try and get to the NCAA Tournament,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We’re fighting to get better, and that’s what’s on our agenda that we have got to continue to grow. And otherwise, right now, we’ve got two games left if we don’t get better. And so right now it’s up to us as a program to see how long of a run in terms of games that we want to make here.”

The top four seeds for the tournament are Auburn (27-4), Florida (27-4), Alabama (24-7) and Tennessee (25-6). They won’t play until the quarterfinals on Friday.

The rest of the tournament starts with four games Wednesday. Mississippi State (20-11) faces LSU (14-17) at 6 p.m.

South Carolina (12-19) takes on Arkansas (19-12) at noon, Texas (17-14) plays Vanderbilt (20-11) at 2:30 p.m., and Oklahoma (19-12) faces Georgia (20-11) at 8:30 in the other first-round games. All first- and second-round games are televised on the SEC Network.

The SEC is so deep this year that even the Nos. 10-12 seeds — Mississippi State, Georgia and Vanderbilt — are considered bubble teams at worst for the NCAA Tournament. Those teams will have to win five games in five days to win the SEC championship, however.

“Win games. Win games, that’s the mantra. That’s the goal and win as many games as we can,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said at his weekly press conference on Monday. “Does it mean we’re playing on Sunday? I hope so, but we want to just focus on LSU and winning that basketball game. Then, we’ll have plenty of time to prepare to win the next game against Missouri if we’re successful in the first game, but it’s tried and true.”

Although it seems secure in its NCAA Tournament standing, Mississippi State would certainly like to bolster its resumé and seeding with a nice run in Nashville. Its portion of the bracket goes through Missouri (21-10) in the second round and Florida in the quarterfinals.

Mississippi State is seeking its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under Jans. It reached the SEC semifinals last season and has won at least one SEC Tournament game in each of the past three seasons.

According to ESPN, the Bulldogs are currently projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve lost four of their last five games, including one in overtime and another on a block in the final seconds.

“I’ve been on both sides of it where you get a bounce or a shot, and it changes everything. By how you’re perceived, by how you feel and by how others around you feel,” Jans said. “My job is to make sure that it doesn’t just rip our hearts out, and that it doesn’t make us not believe in who we are and what we’ve done.”

Ole Miss (21-10) is the No. 8 seed and earned a first-round bye. It’ll await the South Carolina-Arkansas winner and play at noon on Thursday. The winner of that game advances to face Auburn in the quarterfinals.

Like its in-state rival Mississippi State, Ole Miss appears to be a lock to make the NCAA Tournament — it is projected as a No. 7 seed according to ESPN — but is hoping for a good showing this week that evens out what’s been an up-and-down stretch.

The Rebels won two games in a row, including one against Tennessee, but those were bookended by blowout losses on the road against Auburn and Florida. They are 2-4 over their last six games.

Since winning its only SEC title in 2013, Ole Miss is 4-11 overall in the tournament and has not been past the third round.

“Everybody in the league did a good job (in non-conference), then when the league starts it’s just been a bloodbath. It’s short-term memory — a two game winning streak, free breakfast burritos in the mornings, lose a couple games and fans think the world’s falling apart,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said after the 90-71 loss to Florida last Saturday. “But those of us in the arena playing and coaching understand you’ve got to get yourself up, so that’ll be the challenge and opportunity for our team. We just took a pretty good licking against one of the best teams in the country so we’ve got to have short-term memory and get fired up to play in Nashville.”

Southeastern Conference Tournament
At Nashville, Tenn.
All games on SEC Network unless noted
March 12
South Carolina vs. Arkansas, Noon
Texas vs. Vanderbilt, 2:30 p.m.
LSU vs. Mississippi State, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Georgia, 8:30 p.m.
March 13
Ole Miss vs. South Carolina-Arkansas winner, Noon
Texas A&M vs. Texas-Vanderbilt winner, 2:30 p.m.
Missouri vs. LSU-Mississippi State winner, 6 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Oklahoma-Georgia winner, 8:30 p.m.
March 14
Auburn vs. South Carolina-Arkansas-Ole Miss winner, Noon (ESPN)
Tennessee vs. Texas-Vanderbilt-Texas A&M winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Florida vs. LSU-Mississippi State-Missouri winner, 6 p.m.
Alabama vs. Oklahoma-Georgia-Kentucky winner, 8:30 p.m.
March 15
Semifinals, Noon and 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
March 16
Championship game, Noon (ESPN)