SEC Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

It’s been less than a week since we passed the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA Draft pool, meaning we have a firm grasp on who will be coming back next season in college basketball. Though there remains to be plenty of action in the Transfer Portal, nearly every school has an operational coaching staff and these rosters are becoming more and more final.

SEC Basketball has had quite the run of success in recent years. There was a time when barely anyone outside of Florida and Kentucky was regularly competing for national relevance, but those days have long since passed. In recent times, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, and Tennessee have all emerged as national contenders, and there might be a few other programs ready to take that next step forward in the coming years. This isn’t just Kentucky’s league anymore, no matter what John Calipari does on the recruiting trail.

Anyways, we’ll be taking a close look at where these SEC teams stand now that the Draft window has closed. The rosters certainly aren’t final (there was a massive move yesterday in fact), but we’ve got a good idea on what to expect next year. Without further ado, we present the teams ranked on how they currently stand.

14. Georgia

All things considered, the four years that Tom Crean spent as head coach at Georgia were a complete bust. Crean got #1 NBA Draft pick Anthony Edwards on the Bulldogs, and still had zero seasons above .500. Last season, the Bulldogs had one of their worst seasons in program history, struggling to a 6-26 mark, with just one SEC conference win and just abhorrent defensive play. Former Florida coach Mike White slides over to Georgia hoping to make an impact.

There were some decent pieces on last year’s team that are gone, leaving White to rebuild using the transfer portal. First and foremost, guard Kario Oquendo (15.2 ppg last year) is back and will be the focal point of the offense again. He’s joined in the frontcourt by a pair of transfers, with Mardrez McBride arriving from North Texas and Terry Roberts coming over from Bradley. They’ll also hope to get a step forward from Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Jaxon Etter.

The Bulldogs don’t have a lot of talent or experience in the paint, but they’ll at least offset that with these new guards. There’s still time for Georgia to add some talent to this roster, but it’s hard to look at this team and think they’ll be much better than last year. Georgia might be a competitive team one day, especially with a new coach and direction, but that day is not in the near future.