An early look at SEC Basketball for 16-17: Expect Arkansas Basketball to be a contender
The SEC was, once again, a pretty big disappointment last season and looking ahead to 2016-17 does it really look much brighter? Not really.
It’s been an eventful last few weeks for college basketball fanatics. We’ve seen players transfer, coaches change places and highly thought of high school and graduate transfer prospects pick their schools. However with the NBA Draft deadline concluding yesterday, we now have a clearer view of what each roster in the country, as well as what the SEC will look like. While there may still be a few an additions or subtractions throughout the league before the season kicks off in November for the most part we know what each team is going to be stocked with in 2016-2017. So with that said, there really is no reason not to get way to ahead of ourselves and early look at the season ahead in SEC Basketball!
Because it is so early I’m going to give myself a bit of a break. No numerical rankings like in the past but more so I’ll group the teams on what expectations should be for everyone next year. Let’s give it a go!
Uhhhh….next year? Contenders
It’s going to be a rough year for these teams.
Missouri Tigers– as bad as the Tigers have been the last two seasons, it can somehow be even worse in 2016-17. The Tigers have lost five players to dismal or transfer since February which included some mainstays in the roster such as Wes Clark and Namon Wright. They’ll need sophomore’s Kevin Puryear and Terrence Phillips to improve in a major way to get this team out of the basement.
Tennessee Volunteers- The Vols were never going to be a quick fix for Rick Barnes and they’ll likely have plenty of struggles next year without the services of Kevin Punter and Amari Moore who they lost to graduation. Senior Robert Hubbs, and sophomores Derrick Mostella and Admiral Schofield (a clear favorite to end up on the ALL SEC basketball best name team) will have to pick up the scoring punch missed by Punter and Moore.
Auburn Tigers- The Bruce Pearl experiment hasn’t paid off as quickly as most Auburn fans have liked most likely, but he is starting to assemble some pieces to build on. Look for senior guard T.J. Dunans to have a pretty big season after missing most of last year to injury, as well as sophomores Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer that are solid building blocks for the next couple of seasons. Also we can’t forget about Mustapha Heron, the 5 star forward brought in by Pearl for this season. Still, due to youth and lack of depth, the Tigers are still likely a year or two away.
#SECbasketballfever Contenders
While you can expect every team in the conference to end up with a touch of #SECbasketballfever at some point during the year, expect a real roller coaster ride from this group.
Mississippi St.- The NBA draft deadline may have passed, and while guard Malik Newman decided to take his name out of the draft, he also decided to transfer from Mississippi St. a few days later in an interesting move. Frustrating for Bulldog fans everywhere I’m sure. For now, they’ll return potential all SEC candidate Quinndary Weatherspoon and backcourt mate IJ Ready as well as bringing in a top 10 recruiting class. Ben Howland can recruit if you didn’t know that already. However with the losses of upperclassmen Gavin Ware and Craig Sword, it will be hard to expect to much from such a youthful team, whether Newman comes back or not.
LSU- I’m probably a bit higher on this LSU team than most, but who could ever trust a Johnny Jones coached team at this point? It’s going to be Antonio Blakeney’s time to shine and look for the guard to have a big year with big numbers. Big man Craig Victor can be a load inside if he can stay out of foul trouble and guards Jayln Patterson and Brandon Simpson should play bigger roles this year as well.
Alabama- The Tide have a huge void to feel from the lose of Retin Obasohan, who carried a team more than anyone in the conference last year. I think the Tide will fare about as well as the did last season however, as Dazon Ingram will be back from injury and showed plenty of promise until he was knocked out for the year back in December. They’ll also add former top 50 player in Memphis transfer Nick King as well. Shannon Hale, Jimmie Taylor and Riley Norris should bolster the front line.
Ole Miss- Much like the Tide, Ole Miss has a huge hole to feel with the loss of Stefan Moody. Luckily they were able to add grad transfer Cullen Neal from New Mexico who is a pretty big time scorer who can help fill the void left by Moody. They also return big man Sebastian Siaz who has all SEC potential. They’ll need senior Rasheed Brooks to take a step up as well.
Potential Postseason Contenders
Teams in the conference who have a shot at postseason play, whether that’s the NCAA’s or NIT.
Vanderbilt- The Commodores program has been busy since the end of a disappointing 2015-2016 season. Long time coach Kevin Stallings moved on and former Valpo coach Bryce Drew was brought in as his replacement. They also lost Wade Baldwin and Damon Jones to the NBA draft. However, all hope is not lost as they return a solid nucleus of players in the likes of stretch four Luke Kornet, forward Jeff Roberson and guards Riley LaChance and Matthew Fisher-Davis.
South Carolina- The good news for the Gamecocks is they do return their entire backcourt which features Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice. The bad? They lose their entire frontcourt and for the time being promising big man Chris Silva has been out due to suspension since the end of last year. Another big question will be if Frank Martin can find some shooters to add to the roster, as outside shooting has been a real Achilles heel in his time there.
Georgia- Mark Fox may have the best inside-outside combo in the league this year with big man Yante Maten and guard JJ Frazier returning for next season. However, who is going to make up for the losses of Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines? For a team that had depth issues last year, it will be interesting to see who Fox can build around the Maten/Frazier combo.
Texas A&M- Losing 4 key contributors to last years Sweet 16 team and still being a postseason contender just goes to show you how well Billy Kennedy has recruited the last couple of years. The Aggies will still have plenty to build around in big man Tyler Davis, who I think is poised for a real breakout season as a sophomore. Around him will include forwards Tonny Trocha-Morelos and DJ Dogg as well as guard Armon Gilder. They could also get help from a top 20 recruiting class coming in.
Conference Contenders
Teams who have a shot to compete for the conference title.
Arkansas- Mike Anderson received some HUGE/great/wonderful news when ALL SEC big man Moses Kingsley decided to come back for his senior year. Coming back as well will be Dusty Hannahs, who really turned into one of the top scorers in the league last year making for a heck of a 1-2 punch. Arkansas should also receive a major boost to the roster as well with incoming Juco transfers Jaylen Barford, Darly Macon and Arlando Cook. Barford and Macon are do it all guards who not only have big time offensive games but can D up as well. Cook, as well as Colorado transfer Dustin Thomas are really going to give Arkansas a boost at the forward spot, a position that was truly lacking last year. Also expect more help and improved play from guard Anton Beard and big man Trey Thompson. If Anderson can get any help or find a role for incoming freshman Adrio Bailey, Brachen Hazen or CJ Jones it would be a plus. As long as the roster can come together quickly with so many new additions the Razorbacks should find themselves tournament bound again in 16-17.
Florida- While the Gators do lose Dorian Finney-Smith to graduation, they do return practically everyone else. Also they added grad transfer Cannon Barry, who averaged 20 points a game for Charleston last year and should give them some help shooting the ball which is where they struggled with at times last year. Devin Robinson, KeVaughn Allen and John Egbunu should all be poised for big years as hey become more of the focal point of the team.
Kentucky- The cycle continues as Kentucky will once again reload for another season, bringing in the 2nd ranked recruiting class in the land. They also got a big boost when guard Isaiah Briscoe decided to return to school. However, the Wildcats will just have Briscoe and Derek Willis as the only players coming back who contributed from last years club and it’s really hard to believe that the new De’Aaron Fox/Malik Monk backcourt can be as good as Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murrary where last year. Their frontcourt should be improved from the additions of 5 star big men Bam Adebayo, Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones.
More razorbacks: Razorback Mascot sends Mike the Tiger flowers
What do you think about my predictions? Do I have the Hogs too high? Or maybe too low? Let us know in the comments.