Last season the Southeastern Conference sent two teams to the Final Four, and the University of Florida eventually emerged as the conference’s first national champion since 1998. The Gators return all five starters from last season, but for several reasons, they will have a struggle returning to the top. The Gators will have problems playing with a bull’s-eye on their backs. Last season, Florida was a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament after posting a 10-6 conference record, and no one outside of Gainesville, Fla., expected the Gators to win the championship. The Gators will also have to worry about players playing for NBA scouts and not for coach Billy Donovan. Juniors forwards Joakim Noah, Al Horford and junior guard Core Brewer all opted to return to school after their sophomore seasons, but with all projected to be future first-round picks, Florida’s early season contests have often looked like a pickup game at Rucked Park. LSU also went to the Final Four last season, but the Tigers have several question marks of their own. Freshman sensation Torus Thomas bolted for the NBA, and senior guard Darrell Mitchell graduated, leaving the Tigers without their best offensive and defensive players. So far this season the Tigers have played well, but at times they have gone through scoring droughts because of inconsistent outside play from guards. The return of sophomore transfer Terry Martin should give the Tigers much needed outside shooting and could potentially give them the second half spark they received last season when Brady opted to insert Thomas into the starting lineup. But the team no one is giving any attention to is the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide has the big men to bang with LSU, and the guards to run the floor with the Gators. Senior forward Jermareo Davidson and junior guard Ronald Steele were both preseason All-SEC first team selections, and sophomore forward Richard Hendrix was named to the second team. Alabama has to play conference road games against Florida and the University of Tennessee, which will play against the Tide. In the SEC Eastern Division, Tennessee and the University of Kentucky will be Florida’s two biggest challengers. Kentucky is one of the conference’s youngest teams with four freshmen seeing significant playing time. The Wildcats balance their young players with the leadership of junior center Randolph Morris and junior guard Joe Crawford. The inexperience will probably be too much to handle, especially early in the season, so don’t expect Kentucky to create a legitimate threat in the Eastern Division. Tennessee is entering its second season under coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl’s style of play is fun and exciting to watch, especially with junior guard Chris Lofton who is a human highlight reel, but the Volunteers lack the inside play to compete consistently with the top teams in the nation. For that reason, they also will not compete with the Floridas and LSUs of the world. Ole Miss could potentially be a sleeper team. The Rebels return three starters from last season’s team that won games at Alabama and lost by three in Baton Rouge. LSU and Florida both have problems to take care of before they can return to the Final Four, but because of a lack of competition at the top, the Tigers and Gators will remain the class of the conference with the Crimson Tide a close third.
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]