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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
- Auburn
- LSU
- Florida
- Mississippi State
- Ole Miss
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Texas A&M
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 1ST TEAM:
-Jaden Shackelford – Alabama
-Jahvon Quinerly – Alabama
-Colin Castleton – Florida
-Sahvir Wheeler – Kentucky
-Iverson Molinar – Mississippi State
-Scotty Pippen Jr. – Vanderbilt (preseason player of the year)
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM:
-Davonte Davis – Arkansas
-Jabari Smith – Auburn
-Keion Brooks Jr. – Kentucky
-Kellan Grady – Kentucky
-Oscar Tshiebwe – Kentucky
-Darius Days – LSU
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Kentucky is coming off a rare disappointing season where they failed to make the NCAA Tournament. As it seems to every year, the roster has been overhauled after four players left for the NBA (despite going just 9-16 as a team). Instead of reloading almost exclusively with McDonald’s All-Americans, Kentucky has gone into the transfer portal and brought in a quite a few experienced players. That means that expectations are once again very high, and if these guys can gel they can be a very dangerous team.
-Alabama is a team that many are picking to win the SEC, and I believe they are my pick as well. They are losing some key players, but they are adding some extremely talented freshmen to go along with a few key transfer players. Nate Oats is also a phenomenal coach, so the future is very bright for the Tide.
-Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight last year so the excitement around this program is extremely high. They did lose three key starters, but like several other teams in this league they are adding enough talent to make up for what they’ve lost. They’ve got a solid shot at ending up as a protected seed and playing past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
-Tennessee is another team with very high expectations that will begin the season high in the rankings. I really like the Vols this year but am not quite as high on them as many others seem to be. I definitely think they’re top-25 good. I’m just not so sure they’re top-10 good. Having said that, Tennessee has proven me wrong before and put together some outstanding teams. I’m not ruling out that possibility this year.
-Auburn struggled a season ago, but they’ve revamped the roster with some talented incoming freshmen and should be back in the NCAA Tournament picture this year. Expectations are really high despite the fact that they finished just 10th in the league a season ago.
-LSU has just one starter back and the roster has been overhauled, but expectations are still high for Will Wade and company. Why wouldn’t they be? They always seem to deliver. They do have a couple of big transfers coming in who they will be relying on this year. I don’t think LSU is in the protected seed range but I do think they’ve got a very good chance of landing inside the bubble.
-Not as much love for the Gators as I would have expected. They return three starters and have some very talented players coming in (as per usual). I don’t see them contending for a conference championship but I do think they’ll be in the top half of the league and safely inside the bubble.
-Mississippi State finished last season on a bit of a high note as they were the NIT runners-up, and three starters are back from that team so the expectations are higher this year. Garrison Brooks has transferred in from North Carolina and can definitely give this team some experience. I can see them exceeding expectations this year.
And after that there is a bit of a drop off…
-Missouri did make the NCAA Tournament a year ago but it’s been a bit of a rough stretch for Coach Cuonzo Martin. They won just 15 games in each of the two previous years, and with just one starter back from last year’s tournament team they could be in for another rebuilding year this year.
-Since South Carolina’s Final Four run it’s been a frustrating stretch. The Gamecocks won just six games a year ago and some are starting to wonder if Frank Martin (who is a fantastic coach, IMHO) is on the hot seat. Two key players are back but it’s hard for me to think that is enough to get them over the hump.
-UNCLE BUZZ!!!! We at Hoops-HD love Uncle Buzz!! The problem is that it looks like his Texas A&M team is gonna be kind of lousy this year. They do get a couple of big transfers in Marcus Williams/Jordan Hall, who were key players at Wyoming and La Salle respectively, which will definitely help, but as good as Buzz is at developing talent I still think he has a ways to go before the Aggies are back to being a tournament-caliber team.
-Vanderbilt and Georgia…I’m just not expecting much out of. You kind of have to wonder if Tom Crean may be on his way out at Georgia after this year.