Led by reigning conference player of the year Grant Williams, SEC Basketball is home to a class of talented juniors. Here are the best of the best.
Juniors are largely the forgotten class in today’s college basketball world. Freshmen enter with the hype and promise of what could be – from coaches, fans, and NBA scouts alike – while sophomores become more seasoned prospects that still have plenty of time for development. Seniors, of course, are the refined leaders that often shoulder the most responsibility because of the trust they have from their head coach.
Juniors are caught somewhere in the middle. They’re experienced players that don’t usually get the primary responsibilities of seniors, yet they also no longer have the shine of potential of underclassmen.
However, things changed a bit when it came to juniors last season thanks to Villanova, who won their second national championship in three seasons on the backs of juniors Jalen Brunson, Phil Booth, Mikal Bridges, and Eric Paschall.
The SEC is expected to be one of the deepest and most competitive conferences in college basketball again in 2018-19, and several talented juniors figure to be major impact players for some of its best teams – headlined by Tennessee’s Grant Williams, the reigning SEC Player of the Year.
So, which rising juniors are the best in the SEC? Here are the top five.