SEC Basketball: 5 key questions and storylines for 2021-22 season

It’s been an incredible offseason for SEC Basketball and simply as a conference overall. The biggest set of news came via realignment, as both Texas and Oklahoma have accepted invitations to join the SEC for the 2025-26 season unless they can move up the date.

On the basketball side, the programs in the SEC were extra busy, landing a ton of transfers from the portal. From a talent perspective, this conference could have the best overall players collectively in college basketball for this season.

But that does create a whole bunch of questions when it comes to predicting which players will have the biggest impact and who exactly are the best teams in the SEC. To help answer that and other burning questions, we here at Busting Brackets have created a roundtable for this conference, including several contributors that are very familiar with the league. Here are the participating writers and their respective social media handles, so you can follow them for their content and takes for the upcoming season.

Caleb Hightower – @CalebHightower1

Michael Beard – @AllMikedUp_

Matt Melton – @matt_melton20

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher

1. Of the many offseason transfers, which of them will have the biggest impact?

Hightower

I have a strong feeling that Chris Lykes will wind up being the SEC transfer that has the biggest impact this season. I broke down Lykes’ game in my latest article titled “SEC Basketball: 5 transfer guards that could be game-changers in 2021-22” and mentioned that he has enjoyed plenty of individual success at the Power 5 level.

However, he wasn’t surrounded with a ton of talent at Miami, which explains why the Canes only experienced one winning season while Lykes was a member of the program. The Razorbacks did lose multiple players in the offseason, but they were able to retain a few key pieces that played on the 2020-21 Elite 8 squad.

With Lykes getting an opportunity to take the floor with better players in 2021-22, I expect him to have a substantial impact on an Arkansas team that could use a seasoned point guard who will give Razorback fans a lot to look forward to this season.

Beard

Walker Kessler. Auburn had an obvious need down low and he’s going to go beyond feeling that need. Kessler was one of the best big men in the country down the stretch last season and I expect him to continue where he left off this season.

Melton

While there are four to five legit candidates, I’ll say it is a toss-up between Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler and Auburn center Walker Kessler. Wheeler, a Second-Team All-SEC selection a year ago at Georgia, is a candidate to lead the Wildcats in scoring, while also should rank among tops in the country in assists.

Kessler, a former five-star prospect who spent last season at North Carolina, should be one of the top shot blockers and rebounders in the SEC, while also combining with freshman Jabari Smith to compose arguably the top frontcourt duo in the SEC.

Zacher

While Sahvir Wheeler, Walker Kessler, and Garrison Brooks may be the headliners of the SEC’s deep transfer class, I’m most excited to see the seismic impact that Davidson’s Kellan Grady will have at Kentucky.  Wheeler will bear the bulk of carrying Kentucky at the point guard position after a solid stretch at Georgia, but Grady’s leadership will be sought to in a manner that will be incredibly important for a Wildcat squad that struggled mightily last year.

Grady’s role with Kentucky feels eerily reminiscent to Olivier Sarr – a star who transfers to Kentucky at the tail-end of his career and whose experience will be heavily relied upon among a squad of younger players.  The 6-5 Wildcat-turned-Wildcat is coming off a season where he averaged 17.1 points to go with a 38.2% clip from beyond the arc – some crucial, necessary offensive firepower for a team that ranked in the middle nationally in points per game (70.4) and 3PT% (33.5%).