Busting Brackets
Fansided

SEC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

By Matthew Travis

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: The Auburn Tigers hold the winner's trophy after the 84-64 win against the Tennessee Volunteers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: The Auburn Tigers hold the winner's trophy after the 84-64 win against the Tennessee Volunteers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 15
Next
COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – JANUARY 26: Xavier Pinson #1 of the Missouri Tigers leads the team onto the court prior to the game against the LSU Tigers at Mizzou Arena on January 26, 2019 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – JANUARY 26: Xavier Pinson #1 of the Missouri Tigers leads the team onto the court prior to the game against the LSU Tigers at Mizzou Arena on January 26, 2019 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

. . . Tigers . 13. team. 531

Missouri has now entered the post-Porter era which was an era riddled with “what-ifs”. Michael and Jontay Porter were two players who had they been healthy in their time with the Tigers, Mizzou could have been a team making a deep run in March and even into early-April.

Unfortunately that was not the case and we only saw the two play a combined 36 games with Michael playing in only three. However, that is in the past and it’s time to look towards the future and a new era of Missouri Tigers basketball.

Mizzou’s second-best scorer from 2018-19, Mark Smith, will be back in Columbia for his junior season and you can fully expect him to be the top player for the Tigers next season.

Smith is coming off a season where he averaged 11.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Those stats are great and all, but Smith appeared in only 19 games as he suffered an ankle injury in January that required surgery forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.

Had Smith, an Illinois transfer playing in his first season for Mizzou, been healthy, the Tigers might have finished the season off a bit differently. It has now been over seven months since Smith went down and you can fully expect him to be at full strength once the season gets under way.

Smith however, is not the only big name returning player for the Tigers next season, they also have Jeremiah Tilmon, Javon Pickett and some others coming back for another year which is huge.

Tilmon and Pickett were the second and third-leading scorers last season for Missouri and having them come back for their sophomore and junior seasons to play alongside Smith is huge.

In addition to these three, the Tigers also have an ESPN Top-100 commit in LaTrayvion Jackson suiting up for his first season in Columbia. Jackson is a 6’8″ 200lb Power Forward out of Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Jackson, the 67th ranked player in the Class of 2019, is a combo forward who can help out the Tigers a lot and hopefully improve upon their 15-17 mark from 2018-19.

I believe Missouri will finish the 2019-20 season with a 7-5 record against non-conference opponents and a 6-12 record against SEC opponents. With that Missouri would finish the 2019-20 regular season at 13-17 which would give them a tough SEC Tournament matchup.

Therefore they leave the SEC Tournament without a win and fail to make the big dance.

Missouri’s top player in 2019-20 will be junior guard, Mark Smith. Coming back from an ankle injury, Smith can’t wait to show the SEC and the entire country what he is made of and he will be looking to improve upon his mark from last season before going down in January.

Home/SEC