Wanted to put together previews of our top competition in the SEC this season. Will probably be a little too long for most. I am certainly no expert and other posters have forgotten more about basketball than I’ll ever know
I’m not going to use much info from kenpom because that ranking is data driven and it is obviously the preseason which means there’s no relevant data to go off of except for last season and projections. This’ll be pretty long but hopefully will provide some insight into our top comp.
Arkansas - fresh off an Elite 8 run. IMO, muss is the 2nd best coach in the conference and is our primary rival for taking the SEC over the next several years. He has a lot of similarities to Bruce in energy, recruiting ability, play style, and coaching style. Dude’s a master marketer and promoter. They lost a good bit of talent (Moses moody being one - lottery pick, and Justin smith - all sec type forward), but brought in some impact transfers. As is usually the case, Muss relied almost exclusively on the portal to fill roster holes. He’s the portal king. Only took 1 HS ‘croot and he was a top 100ish guy.
Notable Returners:
JD Notae. Effective 6th man last year. Will have a big role as a guard once again. Sparkplug type.
Devonte Davis. Guard. Freshman last season, played very well for them in the tourney. Likely a top contributor. Good defensively IMO. Not a shooter, or at least wasn’t one last year
Khalen Robinson. Guard. Freshman last year who got hurt early in the year. Former top 60ish recruit. Small sample size but seems like a good shoota
Jaylin Williams. The other JW in the conference. We recruited this kid. Athletic, active center. Good complimentary piece and can block some shots. The other center is that 7’4 weirdo named Vanover. We’d run him off the floor this year and our center is almost as big and certainly more athletic.
Key newcomers:
Chris Lykes. Tiny PG - 5’7, 160. Transferred from Miami. Dudes a player though. Can shoot, score and distribute. All conference caliber player imo
Au’diese Toney. Transfer from Pitt. From alabama IIRC. Likely starter IMO. Good all around player. Does a little bit of everything.
Stanley Umude. Transfer forward from South Dakota. Prolific scorer and rebounder at the lower level - 21ppg and 7rpg. Probable starter.
A few more transfers will probably be key players for them but I don’t know enough about them to offer an opinion.
I see this team as a sure fire top 4 team in the SEC, which to me means they have the chops for a deep tourney run.
Coming later the next couple of weeks - looks into bama, LSU, Kentucky, and
maybe Tennessee. Maybe even ole miss as I see them as a dark horse in the SEC this season
I’m not going to use much info from kenpom because that ranking is data driven and it is obviously the preseason which means there’s no relevant data to go off of except for last season and projections. This’ll be pretty long but hopefully will provide some insight into our top comp.
Arkansas - fresh off an Elite 8 run. IMO, muss is the 2nd best coach in the conference and is our primary rival for taking the SEC over the next several years. He has a lot of similarities to Bruce in energy, recruiting ability, play style, and coaching style. Dude’s a master marketer and promoter. They lost a good bit of talent (Moses moody being one - lottery pick, and Justin smith - all sec type forward), but brought in some impact transfers. As is usually the case, Muss relied almost exclusively on the portal to fill roster holes. He’s the portal king. Only took 1 HS ‘croot and he was a top 100ish guy.
Notable Returners:
JD Notae. Effective 6th man last year. Will have a big role as a guard once again. Sparkplug type.
Devonte Davis. Guard. Freshman last season, played very well for them in the tourney. Likely a top contributor. Good defensively IMO. Not a shooter, or at least wasn’t one last year
Khalen Robinson. Guard. Freshman last year who got hurt early in the year. Former top 60ish recruit. Small sample size but seems like a good shoota
Jaylin Williams. The other JW in the conference. We recruited this kid. Athletic, active center. Good complimentary piece and can block some shots. The other center is that 7’4 weirdo named Vanover. We’d run him off the floor this year and our center is almost as big and certainly more athletic.
Key newcomers:
Chris Lykes. Tiny PG - 5’7, 160. Transferred from Miami. Dudes a player though. Can shoot, score and distribute. All conference caliber player imo
Au’diese Toney. Transfer from Pitt. From alabama IIRC. Likely starter IMO. Good all around player. Does a little bit of everything.
Stanley Umude. Transfer forward from South Dakota. Prolific scorer and rebounder at the lower level - 21ppg and 7rpg. Probable starter.
A few more transfers will probably be key players for them but I don’t know enough about them to offer an opinion.
I see this team as a sure fire top 4 team in the SEC, which to me means they have the chops for a deep tourney run.
Coming later the next couple of weeks - looks into bama, LSU, Kentucky, and
maybe Tennessee. Maybe even ole miss as I see them as a dark horse in the SEC this season
