Season Preview: The SEC

We’re profiling the most popular conferences in Division I until we decide that the conference isn’t popular, at which point we might stop, or we might keep going into the one that’ll get less hits. This segment? We take on the conference that’s as bad at basketball as it is good at football: The SEC.

That’s not like it’s the well actually it is the conference’s fault. It’s elite at the top with Kentucky and Florida, and then the rest. The rest being average to bad. Below we’re going to take a look at it. It won’t hurt, we promise.

All-Conference Team

-Aaron Harrison, G, Soph., Kentucky

-Michael Frazier II, G, Sr., Florida

-Jordan Mickey, F, Soph., LSU

-Bobby Portis, F, Soph., Arkansas

-Karl-Anthony Towns, F, Fr., Kentucky

The Breakdown

It’s not like we couldn’t put Kentucky’s starting five here. We could’ve. We almost did. I mean, seriously, we might’ve typed it out. But instead, we opted to look into the conference. Jordan Mickey’s gonna save Johnny Jones from getting fired. That and the fact that LSU is gonna be pretty good this season. Harrison has improved and Towns is just a stud. Portis will pace Arkansas and Frazier is the best shooter in the league.

Predicting the Finish

1.) Kentucky – All that talent returning. All that talent coming to campus. Duh.

2.) Florida – Losing Chris Walker for two regular season games due to suspension is rough. Billy Donovan lost four starters of last season’s squad and Frazier will asked to lead the team.

3.) LSU – This is the moment Johnny Jones has been waiting for. The conference is just bad enough for the Tigers to be good again. But honestly, Jordan Mickey will emerge, Jarell Martin may have an all-SEC year and Josh Gray averaged eleventy-billion points in junior college. That should help.

4.) Arkansas – Finally, Razorback fans will stop thinking Mike Anderson is just keeping the seat warm for Nolan Richardson. Bobby Portis can really play, Alandise Harris does a lot for a guy his size and you’ll probably see a lot more from Moses Kingsley than you expect.

Sleeper Team – 5.) Tennessee – This is all going to be dependent on how the Vols respond to Donnie Tyndall. The roster has been turned over to the point that it’s meth-user-side-by-side-picture unrecognizable with nine new players. I still see it. That pudgy little man works magic on the bench.

6.) Auburn – It’s going to happen folks. Don’t fight it. Don’t make it weird. Bruce Pearl is going to stare into your eyes and make sweet, sweet love on that court with a laundry list of new guys like Antoine Mason, Cimmeon Bowers and K.C. Ross-Miller. Difference is that he’s been in this league before, so he knows how to please.

7.) Georgia – I’m a big believer in continuity. Mark Fox’s team has that. The teams below his on this list don’t, really. Neither does a divorced family. The Bulldogs will be better than a divorced family. They return 3 of their top 4 scorers from a team that won 20 games.

8.) Missouri – Kim Anderson, a Missouri native and former Tiger player, is up from Central Missouri, where he won a Division II title last season, to take the flagship job in his state. This is like when that prick from college joined a fraternity for the “career connections,” which you never thought would happen. Then 15 years later you see him and he’s the CFO of a huge company because the guy who hired him was also in that frat. Also, They lost Jordan Clarkson, Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross.

9.) Vanderbilt – You know what? I like Kevin Stallings. Sure, he didn’t even try to recruit after John Jenkins, Festus Ezeli, Brad Tinsley and Jeff Taylor left. He’s still the guy who made the Commodores pretty good at basketball in the last decade. Damian Jones is basically all the scoring that returns, but Stallings has to get this right. His job is probably on the line.

10.) Texas A&M – First of all, there are 18 dudes on the Aggies’ roster, that’s like a Tom Osborne-era number of walk-ons in college basketball terms. But Alex Caruso might be the best point guard outside of Lexington in the conference, if Jalen Jones gets eligible, he’ll make an impact and Alex Robinson was a coup for coach Billy Kennedy.

11.) Ole Miss – What’s life like in Oxford after Marshall Henderson has left? I don’t want to find out, actually. But nonetheless, Andy Kennedy and City Grocery both press on, unsure of what they’ll do with his Saturday nights. M.J. Rhett could be the best player on the Rebels’ team with only one year of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer.

12.) Alabama – Can Anthony Grant save his job with a bunch of transfers? If he can, he’ll be buying Ricky Tarrant, Michael Kessens and Christophe Varidel some Archibald’s all season long.

13.) Mississippi State – I wanted to rate you higher, Rick Ray. I wanted too. But you’ve lost your best player for the first part of the season to injury, the team is still hella young and there wasn’t enough promise to conclude a major jump in 2014-15. I didn’t order the Code Red.

14.) South Carolina – Frank Martin has reason to be angry. And if he doesn’t, he makes those reasons up. Sindarius Thornwell can play. The end.

Sleeper Player

Alex Caruso, G, Jr. Texas A&M – Dude can pass and most people know that. But he’s played for a program that’s gotten little pub in his time there. This season could be different, whether the Aggies are good or not. Leaning towards not, really.

Most Likely To….be a coach that gets fired midseason

Anthony Grant, Alabama – There are three true candidates here. Grant is just the one that is the most obvious. He’s tanked in recent seasons, his one recruit in 2012 is no longer on the team and he’s mortgaged his recent future in Tuscaloosa on a gaggle of transfers and Justin Coleman. If it doesn’t work, HE GONE.