We saw the SEC dominate college basketball all last season, and we should see similar results this year as well. Although the conference might not be quite as loaded with talent, there are still multiple teams that can compete for the SEC title as well as an NCAA Tournament title. As we barrel towards the opening days of the season, here are the SEC power rankings following an exciting offseason:
16. South Carolina Gamecocks
2024-25 Record: 12-20 (2-16 SEC)
South Carolina might be in a tier of its own as we enter the 2025-26 season. Nearly all of the roster is gone from last year, for better or worse, and Lamont Paris heads into his fourth season in Columbia with one of the weaker rosters in the SEC. Don’t get me wrong, Paris has proven that he can coach a solid team, as he did two seasons ago, but his current roster lacks top-end talent, which defaults SC to the bottom of these power rankings.
For most of last season, I felt that South Carolina was a decent team that simply couldn’t find ways to win games. There were many times, mostly in home games against the top teams in the conference, that the Gamecocks were on the verge of a major upset, only to come up short. Fast forward to this offseason, and I feel much less confident about this South Carolina team than I did a few months ago. Nearly every player from last year's roster is no longer on the team, including Murray-Boyles, who left college early for an NBA career. The only returning contributors are Myles Stute (5.4 ppg), Cam Scott (2.5 ppg), and Jordan Butler (1.8 ppg). Head Coach Lamont Paris added a couple of exciting freshmen, but mostly filled out the roster with transfer portal additions - notably Meechie Johnson (9.1 ppg), who returns to South Carolina following a season at OSU.
There’s always a chance that Lamont Paris can once again surprise the college basketball world, but it's a very slim chance. On paper, I just don’t see how this team can score. Much of the offensive workload will be placed on Johnson's shoulders, but other than Elijah Strong (9.6 ppg at Boston College) and Mike Sharavjamts (7.2 ppg at Utah), the Gamecocks don’t have many experienced scorers at a power conference level. However, there is always the defensive upside for Paris-led teams. His slow tempo allows for a weaker offense, but I don’t know if the defense will get it done this year.
Luckily for the Gamecocks, starting at the bottom of these power rankings only means that they can move up the list.
15. LSU Tigers
2024-25 Record: 14-18 (3-15 SEC)
Last season, LSU had its season derailed due to injuries. Forward Jalen Reed (11.1 ppg) was the Tigers’ best interior scorer before missing all but eight games to injury. Luckily for Matt McMahon, Reed is returning to Baton Rouge this season. While Reed, on his own, won’t turn this LSU team into a competitive team, when healthy, he does raise the floor for what it can achieve.
To help combat the losses of leading scorers Cam Carter and Jordan Sears, McMahon loaded up his roster with transfer portal additions who lit up the mid-major ranks - adding five players who all averaged between 11 and 19 points per game. Leading this group is Marquel Sutton (18.9 ppg), last year's Summit Player of the Year, and Rashad King (18.5 ppg), the second leading scorer in the CAA.
To me, this LSU roster screams Mid-Major All-Stars, which isn’t necessarily a great thing for a team playing in the top conference in the country. Jalen Reed has proven he’s capable of playing against elite talent, but the rest of the roster is virtually untested against P5 schools. But on the positive side, McMahon signed a ton of scoring from the portal. Which could provide some huge offense upside - but I’ll need to see all the pieces mesh before I’m sold on the roster as a whole.
Compared to where McMahon and LSU were to end last season, this year's roster could easily be better. As mentioned before, the offense has a high ceiling, but I doubt the defense will be all that capable of slowing down too many opponents. Fortunately for the Tigers, LSU has a pretty weak first month of games, so there should be plenty of time to work out the kinks. This is one team I look forward to seeing later in the season, but for right now, I don’t have high expectations for the Tigers.
Since taking over at LSU, McMahon has struggled to stack up wins. He has yet to take his team to the NCAA Tournament, and his best record was 17-16 two seasons ago. I don’t know if this will be the team to turn things around in Baton Rouge, but I do know that offensively, they could be fun to watch.
14. Georgia Bulldogs
2024-25 Record: 20-13 (8-10 SEC)
Georgia was much better last season than I had anticipated. The Bulldogs finished the season with 20 wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Much of the team's success could be attributed directly to star freshman Asa Newell (15.4 ppg) and Silas Demary Jr (13.5 ppg) keeping the lackluster offense afloat, while providing Georgia with some stellar defense. However, the Bulldogs found themselves in a tough spot once the season ended, with both Newell and Demary moving on to the NBA and UConn, respectively.
Mike White did his best to replace the production left by Newell and Demary, adding five players from the transfer portal. He added a couple of solid scorers in Jeremiah Wilkinson (15.1 ppg) from California and Marcus Millender (14.9 ppg) from UTSA. Wilkinson adds a scoring upside that Georgia desperately needs - especially from deep. Georgia took the fewest threes per game (19.9) in SEC play, which Wilkinson, on his own, should improve. As a starter over the final 14 games of the season, he took just under eight per game. Teaming Wilkinson up with Millender, who is a career 43.8% three-point shooter, and Blue Cain (9.6 ppg), the Bulldogs should be a formidable offense.
While I do think the offense should be better this season, I can’t say the same for the defense. Without Newell and Demary to anchor the defense, I have a hard time picturing this Georgia team getting many stops. This year's team will likely need to play a slightly different style of defense without the size and length it had a year ago. Justin Bailey flashed some defensive capabilities at his previous stops, averaging nearly 1.5 steals per game, but that was against Big South and Southern Conference competition. Mike White should be able to scheme up a defense that can be competitive, but it's hard to imagine this Georgia team holding up as well on that end of the court with its current roster makeup.
As of right now, I’m not exactly sure how good this Georgia team can be. There’s always been a decent floor for Mike White's teams, though he generally has a little more in terms of talent. The Bulldogs might surprise me this year, but as we enter the season, I’m not overly optimistic.
13. Ole Miss Rebels
2024-25 Record: 24-12 (10-8 SEC)
Ole Miss shocked most people last season with its Sweet Sixteen run. Before the season, I wasn’t too excited about the roster, but Chris Beard turned it into a pretty darn good basketball team.
The Rebels were one of many college basketball teams to overhaul their roster, which once again leaves me unsure of what to expect from Beards’ crew as we enter the season. The only returning production for Ole Miss is Malik Dia (10.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg), which gives the Rebels a solid piece to build around, but with how many seniors were on the team last season, Beard had a ton of experience to replace this offseason.
This is where I’m out on the Rebels. I understand that Chris Beard is a really good college coach, but his transfer portal haul leaves much to be desired. He added five players from Power Conference teams, but none of them played huge roles at their previous stops. AJ Storr (6.1 ppg) is easily the biggest name in the Ole Miss transfer class, but even he had a disappointing previous season at Kansas. James Scott (7.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg) had a solid season at Louisville, but wasn’t a huge part of the offense - though he does provide Beard’s team with some actual size on the interior. Scott’s teammate Koren Johnson only played two games last year, so what he brings to the table is unknown. Travis Perry played sparingly at Kentucky, and Corey Chest (6.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg) put up decent numbers for a bad LSU team.
On paper, I don’t see how this team scores many points. There isn’t really a go-to playmaker that jumps off the page. The roster does have a little more size than it did a year ago, but as I look at the roster, it doesn’t force me to think of much of a postseason for this team. I could be wrong, Chris Beard is a great coach, but there are simply too many questions across the board for me to buy into the Rebels this season.
12. Oklahoma Sooners
2024-25 Record: 20-14 (6-12 SEC)
It looked as if Oklahoma was ready to compete on a national stage last season after beating the likes of Arizona, Louisville, and Michigan throughout the non-conference slate. However, last year's Sooners team did exactly what every Sooners team has done under Porter Moser - completely underwhelm in conference play. Oklahoma buoyed its resume on a 13-0 start to the season, and snuck into the NCAA Tournament, its first under Moser, on the coattails of the strength of the SEC following a 6-12 record in conference play.
Nearly all production from last season is no longer on the roster. The only returning players who contributed more than one point per game are Dayton Forsythe and Mohamed Wague, who averaged a combined 8.2 points. With basically a clean slate, Moser brought in quite a few players from the transfer portal. Notably, Oklahoma signed a couple of scorers with a ton of P5 experience. Nijel Pack (13.9 ppg) only played nine games last season at Miami, but he hasn’t averaged less than 12.7 points in his five previous seasons. Tae Davis (15.1 ppg) from Notre Dame provides the Sooners with a solid secondary scorer, and if Xzayvier Brown (17.6 ppg) performs as advertised, Oklahoma’s offense should have three reliable options.
My biggest concern with this year's Oklahoma team is its depth. The starters should be great, but what happens if and when they are off the court? Who steps up? Jadon Jones (12.1 ppg) was solid at Long Beach State, but the rest of the bench is unproven. Though Derrion Reed (6.0 ppg) could make a jump in production, which would be huge for the Sooners on both ends of the court.
This team has plenty of upside, especially from the guards, but with so little continuity from last season, the Sooners are tricky to evaluate. Oklahoma could surprise me this season, but if history is any indication, the Sooners will falter once the schedule picks up in SEC play. I’m going to be cautious when it comes to this Sooners team, but I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong.
11. Mississippi State Bulldogs
2024-25 Record: 21-13 (8-10 SEC)
I considered putting Mississippi State a couple of spots lower, considering they lost quite a bit of production from last season, but then I remembered that all Chris Jans-led teams have super high floors, even if the ceiling isn’t all that high. Jans has been the model of consistency since taking over in Starkville - winning 21 games overall, going 8-10 in conference play, and making the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons leading Mississippi State.
The offense was great last season - averaging nearly 80 points per game, which is unheard of with Mississippi State teams over the past few seasons - and Josh Hubbard's return gives the offense some legitimacy. Adding Jayden Epps (12.8 ppg), Quincy Ballard (10.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg), and Ja’Borri McGhee (11.1 ppg) from the transfer portal should help take some stress off Hubbard on that end of the court.
The biggest downfall for Mississippi State’s season last year was its defense. In their first season without Tolu Smith, the Bulldogs had their worst defense of the Jans era, allowing more than 74 points per game, which probably informs us as to why the offense took off this past year. The addition of Ballard should also help the defense bounce back, especially with his shot blocking ability - he led the AAC the past two seasons in blocked shots per game. Epps hasn’t always been the most locked-in defensive player, but he averaged 1.4 steals per game last season, which should help replace the 3.5 spg that left with Cameron Matthews and Riley Kugel.
This could be the season that the floor falls out from under Mississippi State, but as previously mentioned, Chris Jans almost guarantees 21 wins per season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Josh Hubbard should once again be great, but the players surrounding him aren’t quite as solid as the team that Jans put on the court last year. I’m willing to give the Bulldogs the benefit of the doubt until Jans has a truly terrible season.
10. Texas A&M Aggies
2024-25 Record: 23-11 (11-7 SEC)
When Buzz Williams departed College Station, he took a few things with him - bad offense, incredible offensive rebounding, hard-nosed defense, and some really good players. But the Aggies moved quickly to hire a fun, young coach in Bucky McMilan. McMilan’s style of play is almost the exact opposite of Williams’. He wants to push the pace, make a ton of threes, and force turnovers - rather than play lock-down shot-clock draining defense.
On paper, McMilan built a roster from the transfer portal that should allow him to run his style of basketball at Texas A&M. I really like the additions of Rylan Griffen (6.3 ppg), Pop Isaacs (16.3 ppg in eight games), and Jabari Lane (17.3 ppg) as perimeter scorers. All three have found success from deep - each making 70 or more threes in a season, as well as hitting better than 38 percent from deep for a season. Mackenzie Mgbako is a solid scoring threat inside and out, and Federicko Federicko should help shore up the defense on the interior.
The defense should be feisty, if nothing else, with how much McMilan likes to pressure the ball and switch up his defenses between zone and man. And with big man Federicko Federicko (1.2 bpg career) coming in from Texas Tech, A&M should be tough to beat at the basket.
If I were ranking the SEC based on how fun the teams could be to watch, Texas A&M would easily be in the top two in the conference, but being a fun team to watch doesn’t always result in wins. The Aggies have the potential to be a really good basketball team; they just need a lot of things to go right in McMilan’s first season. If the offense gels right away and his high-pressure defense works with this new roster, then A&M might surprise quite a few teams. There are a lot of new pieces that will need to learn how to play together, and until I actually see McMilan get wins against really good power conference opponents, I’m being a little more cautious with the Aggies.
09. Texas Longhorns
2024-25 Record: 19-16 (6-12 SEC)
I haven’t seen a ton of love for the Longhorns this offseason - a ton has changed in Austin since the surprise NCAA Tournament bid. Texas moved on from Rodney Terry, saw 2024-25 SEC Rookie of the Year Tre Johnson (19.9 ppg) make the jump to the NBA, and lost two solid scorers in Arthur Kaluma (12.3 ppg) and Kadin Shedrick (8.8 ppg).
The Longhorns hired Sean Miller away from Xavier, who led the Musketeers to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his three seasons in Cincinnati. Miller brought with him to Austin one of his top players from last season in Dailyn Swain (11.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg). He also added Simeon Wilcher (8.0 ppg) from a great St. John’s team as well as Florida Atlantic big man Matas Vokietaitis (10.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg).
Miller will have his work cut out for him when it comes to Texas’s offense this season. The Longhorns have some solid returning scorers - Tramon Mark (10.6 ppg), Jordan Pope (11.0 ppg), and Chendall Weaver (6.4 ppg) - but the offense might not be quite as good as it was a year ago. It won’t help that this roster isn’t filled with many efficient perimeter scorers. Mark and Pope shot around 35 percent from deep last season, which isn’t terrible, but I’m confident that was mostly due to being secondary options in the offense.
While the defense wasn’t great a season ago, Simeon Wilcher should help improve Texas on that end of the court right away. Wilcher played just over 25 minutes per game for one of the best defenses in the country at St. John’s. Pairing him with Mark, Weaver, and Cam Heide from Purdue, and Miller should have a solid defense this season, especially as the SEC looks to take a slight step back as a conference.
Sean Miller is still a solid basketball coach. I loved his teams at Arizona, so I’m interested in seeing what he can do with the resources at Texas. I might be a little high on Texas, but I think that the Longhorns can do just enough to be competitive this season.
08. Vanderbilt Commodores
2024-25 Record: 20-13 (8-10 SEC)
Mark Byington already did in his first season what many Vanderbilt coaches have struggled to do - make the NCAA Tournament. And even though the Commodores were bounced in their opening round game, Byington set the program up for success for the future. Nearly everyone on the roster was added from the transfer portal, so there was absolutely no continuity from the prior coaching staff, which might have played a big role in the success.
However, Byington isn’t starting from scratch this season. Double-digit scores, Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton return to provide a solid core to build around. And unlike last season, Vanderbilt landed a handful of transfers from power conference teams to round out its roster. The biggest additions were Frankie Collins (11.2 ppg) from TCU, Tyler Harris (11.8 ppg) from Washington, and Duke Miles (9.4 ppg) from Oklahoma. The Commodores also added AK Okereke (13.6 ppg, 4.1 apg) from the Mid Major Ranks.
Vanderbilt struggled in some games last season due to its complete lack of size, but Byington added a couple of decent bigs, Jalen Washington from North Carolina and Mason Nicholson from Jacksonville State, from the transfer portal, which should have an immediate impact on the Commodores' ability to defend the rim.
I like the pieces that Byington has assembled this season. He pushed the pace last season to compensate for his lack of size, which worked for his roster. It will definitely hurt not to have Jason Edwards as the team's leading scorer, but Vanderbilt should have a much more balanced offense this season, meaning that the Commodores shouldn’t need to rely solely on a single player to keep the offense moving.
Vanderbilt hasn’t had this much hype going into a college basketball season in quite some time. I was completely sold on Mark Byington last season. His first season at Vanderbilt could only be categorized as a success - winning 20 games and earning an NCAA Tournament bid - with a roster that wasn’t chalk full of power conference talent. Just imagine what he could do with a team filled with P5 caliber players.
07. Missouri Tigers
2024-25 Record: 22-12 (10-8 SEC)
Missouri bounced back to make the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years, largely due to the improvement on offense. Dennis Gates had Missouri’s offense humming once again last season, mostly due to the return of solid three-point shooting. The Tigers made 36.7 percent from behind the arc, which was the 44th best in the country. Much of the scoring from deep came from Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates, but with both of them moving on to the NBA, a large portion of the perimeter scoring will fall on the shoulders of Jacob Crews (5.6 ppg) and Trent Pierce (6.7 ppg). Luckily for Mizzou, they won’t have to do it all on their own. Transfers Jevon Porter from LMU, Luke Northweather from Oklahoma, and Jayden Stone from West Virginia are all threats to score from deep.
Missouri has the depth and talent to compete for the SEC title this season, but its success will largely be determined by how well the Tigers shoot from deep. Crews and Pierce showed flashes last season of what they are capable of doing from behind the arc, but they were never the most consistent scorers. Porter and a healthy Stone should provide a little more power from deep, but their impact will likely fluctuate throughout the season. Mitchell should once again be a consistent inside scorer, but Sebastian Mack will need to take on a large portion of the mid-range scoring along with Robinson.
The defense should be the best it's been under Gates, especially with Robinson on the opposing team's best player. And that’s not to forget that Mitchell is also a really good defender in his own right. Add in Trent Pierce and occasionally Shawn Phillips at the rim, then the defense should perform well this season.
Missouri has closed the gap a little on the top third of the conference - the teams capable of winning it all. The concerns around perimeter scoring might limit the Tigers' offense, but if all goes well this season, Missouri could surprise quite a few teams - finishing towards the top of the conference standings.
06. Auburn Tigers
2024-25 Record: 32-6 (15-3 SEC)
It wouldn’t be crazy to move Auburn down a spot or two, considering that head coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement a little over a month before the official start of the season. However, with the roster staying intact and with the new head coach being the previous head coach’s son, I don’t think there will be much deviation from the program's initial plans for the season.
The younger Pearl, Steven, is being left one of the top players in the conference, Tahaad Pettiford (11.6 ppg), and has numerous new transfers that should make his first season leading the Tigers relatively smooth. Clearly, Auburn won’t be quite the juggernaut that it was just a season ago, but that was expected with many Auburn mainstays no longer on the roster - namely, Johni Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, and Denver Jones.
Pettiford should be in contention for SEC Player of the Year and should put up huge numbers this season. The additions of Keyshawn Hall (18.8 ppg) from UCF and Elyjah Freeman (18.9 ppg) from D2 Lincoln Memorial should keep Auburn as one of the top offenses in the country this season. The Tigers also added solid players from defensive-minded teams in Kevin Overton from Texas Tech and KeShawn Murphy from Mississippi State.
I really like the Murphy addition. Auburn needed a solid big man who could impact both ends of the court. But I do have some concerns about the Tigers bringing in the likes of Hall and Freeman. Hall is used to dominating the ball, but if he is willing to take a secondary scoring role, he should thrive in Auburn's offense. And Freeman is great on paper, though the jump from D2 to the SEC is hard for any player to make. If he can make a big impact early on, then I’ll have no problem buying into what he can achieve at this level.
I don’t think Auburn will be nearly as dominant as it was a season ago. Steven Pearl will likely continue with what his father had set up this offseason, so the Tigers should still be one of the better teams in the conference. They might not be SEC or NCAA Title contenders, but they will undoubtedly be tough to beat.
05. Tennessee Volunteers
2024-25 Record: 30-8 (12-6 SEC)
Consistency is key in a college basketball team's long-term success, and over the past 20-plus years, there has been few coaches more consistent than Rick Barnes. Since taking over at Tennessee in 2015, the Volunteers have finished a season with a losing record once and have only missed the NCAA Tournament three times. Much of Tennessee’s success in recent years has been Barnes’s ability to assemble elite defenses.
Tennessee's big concern is how the defense performs without elite defender Zakai Zeigler, who led the defense for the past four seasons. And that’s not to mention the fact that Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack were also solid defenders. So chances are the Vols aren’t the lockdown defense that we’ve come to expect, though the additions of Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Carey (8.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Maryland’s Jacobi Gillespie (14.7 ppg, 1.9 spg) give Barnes two solid defenders to play alongside elite shot blocker Felix Okpara (1.7 bpg).
The offense should be fine this season. While Tennessee did lose its top four scorers, Gillespie should be able to provide a good portion of the scoring. Each of the last three seasons, Tennessee has turned to a high-profile transfer to lead the scoring attack, and it looks like this year it will be Gillespie’s turn. The Vols also added solid scoring pieces in Louisiana Tech transfer Amaree Abram (12.4 ppg), Ethan Burg from overseas, and heralded freshman Nate Ament, which should allow Tennessee’s offense to keep up with the rest of the SEC.
I’m really excited to see what Gillespie can do this season. He proved last season that he is one of the best players in college basketball and was arguably the top transfer this offseason. His two-way prowess makes him one of the most indispensable players in the SEC. If he can build on his previous seasons and if Ament is an All-Conference talent, then Tennessee will be just fine this season. However, if either of them fails to play to expectations, the Vols will most likely fade a little, more towards the middle of the SEC standings.
04. Alabama Crimson Tide
2024-25 Record: 28-9 (13-5 SEC)
Even with the mass exodus of upperclassmen from the roster this offseason, Alabama is still one of the top teams in the conference. Stars Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, as well as talented big man Clifford Omoruyi, left a big production hole to be filled - though a complete roster rebuild wasn’t needed.
Rather than raid the transfer portal, Nate Oats decided to build out the majority of his roster with solid recruits from the prep ranks - adding three players ranking in the top-75. Though he still added some solid transfers. The three major transfer portal additions should see plenty of minutes this upcoming season. Taylor Bol Bowen (8.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg) from Florida State should provide the Tides defense with some elite shot blocking. Noah Williamson (17.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and Jalil Bethea (7.1 ppg) will give Oats a couple of solid bench scorers.
The returning production is why I like this Alabama team so much this season. Labaron Philon should see a big jump in production now that Mark Sears is no longer on the roster. As a freshman, Philon averaged nearly 11 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the floor. His three-and-D ability makes him one of the better young players in the conference. Aden Holloway (11.4 ppg) gives Alabama a solid secondary ball handler and excellent three-point threat - he made 41 percent from deep last season. And a full season with Latrell Wrightsell Jr should give the offense the boost it needs to stay at the top of the college basketball ranks.
The Crimson Tide will be tested many times during the non-conference slate, so we should have a good idea of what this year's Alabama team will look like once we hit conference play. I think Alabama has all the talent to compete for an SEC title. The offense should once again be excellent, and the defense should be serviceable. Nate Oats has proved that with that combination, he can coach his teams to great heights.
03. Arkansas Razorbacks
2024-25 Record: 22-14 (8-10 SEC)
Arkansas’s upside is largely unknown. John Calipari has done more with young players than just about any other coach in college basketball. Though it did look like his luck was starting to run out last season before the Razorbacks finally found their groove and won enough down he stretch to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
The Hogs’ roster looks quite different than it did last year, with many quality producers either running out of eligibility or transferring - Boogie Fland and Zvonimir Ivisic both hit the portal, transferring to Florida and Illinois, respectively. And Adou Theiro and Johnell Davis ran out of their eligibility. But even with those losses, Arkansas is in a better situation going into year two under Calipari.
Arkansas added two five-star recruits, Darius Acuff Jr and Meleek Thomas, who should play huge roles this season. Karter Knox (8.3 ppg) was arguably the team's best player down the stretch, nearly leading the Hogs to an upset over Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament. DJ Wagner (11.2 ppg) returns for a third season under Calipari, and Trevon Brazile (6.8 ppg) allows the Hogs to play a small lineup and push the pace on offense.
And even though the transfer portal haul was small, Arkansas picked up two experienced big men. Malique Ewin (14.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg) led the ACC in field goal percentage at 59.6 and should give the Hogs a true scoring center. And Nick Pringle (9.5 ppg) should be a tough player coming off the bench.
The offense should be fine this season, but there will probably, once again, not be much perimeter scoring. Most of the players on the roster want to get to the rim, which ended up working out last season. The balance on the roster is much better this season, and it doesn’t appear that there are many players on the roster who need to dominate the ball to be effective scorers. This team has tremendous upside; it's all about making sure the pieces fit moving forward.
This season could be reminiscent of Cal's teams of years past - the rest of the SEC better be prepared.
02. Kentucky Wildcats
2024-25 Record: 24-12 (10-8 SEC)
Mark Pope has done a great job this offseason building out his roster during his time in Lexington. Pope took over at Kentucky last season and brought in a ton of transfers just to get a roster put together that could compete in the SEC. And in the end, he was successful, even if the Wildcats hit some rough stretches throughout the season - most due to incredibly poor defense.
This season should be different for Kentucky. Pope, knowing that his offense was in good hands with Otega Oweh (16.2 ppg) returning, set his sights on transfer players with defensive upsides - namely Jayden Quaintence, who averaged 2.6 blocks per game as a freshman at Arizona State. And while he’s much more known for his scoring ability, Jaland Lowe has defensive upside. Last season at Pittsburgh, Lowe averaged nearly two steals per game. Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen (7.7 ppg) and Mouhamed Dioubate (7.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg) from Alabama are both uber athletic, even if their defensive skills don’t always show up in the box score and come from programs that have done nothing but win over the past couple of seasons.
Three-point shooting should be there for the Wildcats since that is always the focus of a Pope-coached team. Though this season should be a little less stressful for Kentucky fans, since there should be much more solid defense played. Kentucky won two games in the NCAA Tournament with one of the worst defenses in the nation, so it's easy to get excited about this team now that there is more than just one or two defensive-minded players on the roster.
Kentucky and Florida are the clear two best teams in the conference. Kentucky is a spot lower simply because they are starting from a position with a little more unknown than the Gators. But if everything works out how Pope has envisioned it, Kentucky could be the best team in the SEC and quite possibly the country.
01. Florida Gators
2024-25 Record: 36-4 (14-4 SEC)
The defending champions seem to be the consensus No. 1 team in the SEC this offseason, and I’m inclined to agree. While the Gators did lose the likes of Walter Clayton Jr, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard, they return the frontcourt trio of Thomas Hough, Alex Condon, and Rueben Chinyelu. Which is, in my opinion, the best in the country.
Todd Golden snagged two solid point guards from the portal to join his returning stars - Boogie Fland (13.5 ppg) from Arkansas and Xaivian Lee (16.9 ppg) from Princeton. Both have proven at their previous stops that they are more than capable of putting up big scoring numbers while also being solid facilitators - averaging more than five assists per game.
If Florida’s offense takes a step back, it should only be a slight one. The pace of the offense should open things up nicely for Fland and Lee to put up solid scoring numbers. And that’s not to forget about Ohio transfer AJ Brown, who averaged double-digit points in two out of three seasons in the MAC. Hough and Condon taking a step forward offensively will only help round out Florida on that end of the court. But luckily for the Gators, even if the offense isn’t quite as unstoppable this season, the three bigs should help the team out tremendously on the defensive end of the court. Hough, Condon, and Chinyelu averaged a combined three blocks per game as well as just over 20 rebounds per game. I’m not sure there’s another school in the country with that kind of returning production.
Other than some bench depth, I don’t have too many concerns when it comes to Florida. The addition of AJ Brown (13.2 ppg) from Ohio should provide some timely scoring from the second squad, but Golden did a great job keeping scoring on the floor at all times, regardless of lineup, to keep the offense humming.
With the ever-changing landscape of the SEC, Florida looks to be the team to beat as we enter the season.