Excluding UF and UK

[InstiGATOR1]

Excluding UF and UK who are likely to be the toughest SEC teams this year? Or maybe if we guess UF and UK have two of the top 5 seeds in the SEC tourney who will be the other three?

I would guess the choices would come from UAL, UAR, UMo, UTn and maybe Vandy.

Of the rest who is most likely to be the surprise team in the league this year?

[GatorsGators]

Excluding UF and UK who are likely to be the toughest SEC teams this year? Or maybe if we guess UF and UK have two of the top 5 seeds in the SEC tourney who will be the other three?

I would guess the choices would come from UAL, UAR, UMo, UTn and maybe Vandy.

Of the rest who is most likely to be the surprise team in the league this year?

Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. I would never count out Vandy, but they are dealing with a lot of turnover. A&M has some talent coming in with a nice recruiting class, so they could surprise. After that, the conference doesn't look too deep.

[MadduxFanII]

Missouri's losing a lot, but they've joined us in Transferville, so I expect them to be awfully good.

[Gator_Joe]

Kentucky
Florida
Missouri
Alabama
Tennessee
Mississippi
Vanderbilt
Arkansas

That's how I see the top/middle tier of the SEC stacking up preseason. Who really knows what the season will bring. I don't look for UK to be as dominant as prior teams this season. I also look for us to be a bit better than expected. Maybe we can knock off Uk a game or two this year:)

[Singaporegator]

How many tourney bids? I'm thinking five. What is our seed? I'm thinking a three. If so does that make this a better team than last year?

[don23lucia]

Kentucky
Florida
Missouri
Alabama
Tennessee
Mississippi
Vanderbilt
Arkansas

That's how I see the top/middle tier of the SEC stacking up preseason. Who really knows what the season will bring. I don't look for UK to be as dominant as prior teams this season. I also look for us to be a bit better than expected. Maybe we can knock off Uk a game or two this year:)

cosign

[gatordd]

Tenn is going to be really good

[REM08]

Kentucky
Florida
Missouri
Alabama
Tennessee
Mississippi
Vanderbilt
Arkansas

That's how I see the top/middle tier of the SEC stacking up preseason. Who really knows what the season will bring. I don't look for UK to be as dominant as prior teams this season. I also look for us to be a bit better than expected. Maybe we can knock off Uk a game or two this year:)

I agree with this whole post. I also don't look for UK to be dominant. I think they'll struggle through the reg season ( like 2011 team) and then who knows. I'm may be down on them more than the average UK fan, but I'm not sure I peg them atop the SEC.

Missouri will be really good, as will UTn and Bama. The only team I really have no clue about is Vandy. With what they lost, they can't end up better than decent.

[themistocles]

Very interesting question this early.

Missouri usually fields a pretty good basketball team.
Vandy plays 9 games in Nashville. That is an almost sure 8 or 9 wins no matter who is playing for them, and realize, they never have anyone on the team who plays in the pros.
The Gators will be unusually experienced, with 3 seniors and 4 juniors, plus a RS soph, and, experienced teams tend to win more road games than inexperienced teams.
Ky will have less experience that last year, so it will depend on how quickly their plethora of frosh adapt.

Gator Joe's list certainly makes sense at this point.

[InstiGATOR1]

I also think Frank Martin is a good coach and his teams at SoCar will become a really tough challenge in the future. But given the transfers I see him needing a year or so.

As for the others:

Mississippi: They seem to be treading water at best if not declining.
Mississippi State: I think they are going to be in the weeds for several years after the defections and coaching change.
LSU: Seems to be treading water too after one big season.
AU: I do not yet see anything happening there yet.
UGa: Their coach seemed a good hire, but they have not progressed in the pecking order.
aTm: I am not sure I know enough about them to guess how they will do in the SEC.

Interesting that all but UGa are former west teams. The new scheduling may help UGa and hurt the rest of the old SEC west squads. Again with aTm who knows with their coach fighting an illness and being new to the conference.

[MadduxFanII]

Yeah. South Carolina is going to be a pest, and games against them are likely to be annoying as all hell. But I can't see them winning very many. There are going to be a lot "And the Gamecocks lose another heartbreaker" type of stories this year.

Martin is...odd, but he gets his guys to play ferocious defense. Probably because they're scared he'll beat them to death with their own legs if they don't.

[GatorsGators]

South Carolina is going to be terrible next season. They lose Harris and Gill, and have next to nothing coming in to make up for those losses. Their frontcourt is going to be awful, and Martin won't be able to do anything about that. He's a bit overrated as a coach, anyways. His best recruiting class was handed to him by Huggins.

I disagree Mississippi is trending downward. They return everything except for Terrence Henry, and have a solid recruiting class with a bunch of wings to replace him. I think they'll be middle-pack again, and they could sneak into the tournament.

[InstiGATOR1]

Yeah. South Carolina is going to be a pest, and games against them are likely to be annoying as all hell. But I can't see them winning very many. There are going to be a lot "And the Gamecocks lose another heartbreaker" type of stories this year.

Martin is...odd, but he gets his guys to play ferocious defense. Probably because they're scared he'll beat them to death with their own legs if they don't.

I agree with this. Martin's guys will defend and rebound like crazy. I think you have this year nailed. And pesky is the polite way to describe how they will be.