NCAA Basketball: Best bets for 2021-22 regular-season power league titles

SEC: LSU Tigers +1000

The Southeastern Conference was one of the more head-scratching leagues in all of college basketball last season. Ever consistent Kentucky fell off the face of the sport and struggled to uphold play worthy of its history. Whereas the top three teams in the conference all belonged to the “new” blood of the SEC’s coaching tree: Nate Oats (Alabama), Eric Musselman (Arkansas), and Will Wade (LSU).

The production from Musselman and Oats completed more of a “coming out” party among the conference’s brass to signify their adaption to the league’s vigor, but for Wade, it was another season of steadying production.

Under Wade, the Tigers finished 9th in the SEC standings, but since then have finished in the top-3 every year including a regular-season conference title in 2018-19. Much like his counterparts at Alabama and Arkansas, Wade has been able to recruit with the best coaches in the country and quickly built up the program under his command. LSU has maintained elite offensive ability holding themselves within the top-45 schools nationally each year.

Defense on the other hand has been on the complete other end of the spectrum, yet the absence of suffocating defense has not plagued the Tigers in the win column. It has cost the program games at times, but Wade’s team has been able to approach or surpass the 20-win mark each year without it.

This offseason’s additions of Adam Miller (Illinois), Xavier Pinson (Missouri), and Tari Eason (Cincinnati) make up for the majority of the offense lost from last year’s team, but it also makes significant headway on improving the defensive ability as well.

Eason, Miller, and Pinson have already situated themselves as some of the highest-rated defensive prospects on the roster. The additions of highly-touted centers Efton Reid and Jerrell Colbert give the Tigers a strong interior defensive presence, something this team has not had since 2018-19 with Naz Reid. Additionally, the signings of Bradley Ezewiro and Alex Fudge increase the team’s capability to clog passing lanes and simultaneously guard the interior and perimeter.

LSU’s Sweet 16 run in the 2018-19 season came as a result of having functional pieces sprinkled throughout the roster capable of maintaining high-end offensive production and average defense. A modest increase on the defensive end of the court would significantly boost the potential for this team and the restructuring of the roster this summer certainly makes that an achievable possibility.

With the SEC lined up again to beat upon itself through conference play, the chances of LSU beating out the likes of higher positioned teams like Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, and Kentucky isn’t entirely farfetched. They’ve done it before with similar expectations and they can do it again.