Busting Brackets
Fansided

SEC Basketball: Way-too-early 2019-20 preseason power rankings

By Dakota Cox

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 09: Jalen Hudson #3 of the Florida Gators handles the ball while being guarded by Keldon Johnson #3 of the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half at Rupp Arena on March 09, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 09: Jalen Hudson #3 of the Florida Gators handles the ball while being guarded by Keldon Johnson #3 of the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half at Rupp Arena on March 09, 2019 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 15
Next
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Javonte Smart #1 of the LSU Tigers celebrates their 69-67 win over the Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MARCH 23: Javonte Smart #1 of the LSU Tigers celebrates their 69-67 win over the Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

9. LSU Tigers

I know this seems low for a team that just won the SEC regular season championship, but I’m not very high on what LSU has coming back. A big reason that LSU was so successful this year was because of the pick-and-roll success of Tremont Waters and Naz Reid. Well, both of those players are now in the NBA Draft. Another early entry is Skylar Mays. Javonte Smart hasn’t declared, but if he is involved with the FBI investigation, he might want to go to the pros now.

However, the biggest reason why this team was so good was their head coach, and Will Wade is still suspended indefinitely. If he permanently loses his job, LSU’s season will fall hard. He might be reinstated, but there is just no certainty as of right now.

Even if Wade is reinstated, he will have little to no talent compared to what they had this year. His recruiting class currently only has two players, and they are a three-and-two star. No 4-star talents to replace their three (possibly four) highest scoring players from this team sounds like a recipe for failure. Also, there are no guys with the size to replace Naz Reid at all. This means that the Tigers will have to change their philosophy on both offense and defense.

All in all, with this much uncertainty, I just couldn’t put LSU any higher than nine. They have talent on the roster, but most of it is unproven. A lot of what this team can do will revolve around who is in the head coach’s chair, and that question has not been answered just yet.

Home/SEC