Ranking SEC basketball teams by tiers: Kentucky, Florida at top of conference poised to dominate again Tier 1 - National Title contenders: 1. Florida Gators 2. Kentucky Wildcats Tier 2 - Top-25 caliber club: 3. Tennessee Volunteers 4. Arkansas Razorbacks 5. Alabama Crimson Tide 6. Auburn Tigers Tier 3 - NCAA Tournament teams: 7. Vanderbilt Commodores 8. Missouri Tigers 9. Oklahoma Sooners Tier 4: Bubblicious 10. Mississippi St Bulldogs 11. Ole Miss Rebels 12. Texas Longhorns 13. Texas AM Aggies 14. Georgia Bulldogs Tier 5 - The basement: 15. LSU Tigers 16. South Carolina Gamecocks 1. Florida 2024-25 record: 36-4 Postseason: NCAA Tournament champions PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP G Xaivian Lee (transfer from Princeton G Boogie Fland (transfer from Arkansas) F Thomas Haugh F Alex Condon* C Rueben Chinyelu* Returning starters indicated by * Top bench options: C Micah Handlogten, G/F CJ Ingram, G Urban Klavzar, G AJ Brown, G Isaiah Brown, G Alex Lloyd The scoop: It's going to look a little different in Gainesville, but the talent for the reigning national champions is unquestionable. Todd Golden has six guys who are on NBA radars. Very few other programs can say that. Florida landed two dynamic creators in Lee and Fland, who can go create a bucket out of nothing. It should murder teams on the offensive glass when it rocks with its jumbo lineup, and it has the lineup flexibility to adjust to more traditional three-guard lineups if the matchup calls for it. Perimeter defense will be a question early without the brilliant Alijah Martin, but Florida's rim defense should be outstanding thanks to the return of the deepest and stiffest frontcourt in college basketball. Haugh, Condon, Chinyelu and Handlogten? Whew. ============================================== ===============================================
^ A lot of information to digest. Take a moment. While the predictions may or may not be accurate, I thought that this article was pretty good at listing the potential starters & bench of the SEC opposition (which I summarized again)!
It looks like that Florida has 11-13 players-platoon. The two centers Olivier Rioux and Viktor Mikic were not listed as well. === (Traditional Big Lineup) ====== C:6'10 255 Rueben Chinyelu PF: 6'11 230 Alex Condon SF: 6'9 210 Thomas Haugh CG: 6'2 175 Boogie Fland PG: 6'4 180 Xaivian Lee =================== When Golden goes with the 3-guard line-ups, I could see the following: === (3-G Lineup1) =========== C: 6'11 230 Alex Condon PF:6'9 210 Thomas Haugh SF: 6'4 210 AJ Brown CG: 6'2 175 Boogie Fland PG: 6'4 180 Xaivian Lee ======================== === (3-G Lineup2) =========== C: 6'10 255 Rueben Chinyelu C: 7'1 235 Micah Handlogten SF: 6'6 200 CJ Ingram CG: 6'4 200 Isaiah Brown// 6'3 165 Alexander Lloyd PG: 6'1 190 Urban Klavzar ======================== Another consideration, a 4-Guard Backup lineup (just to use all of the backups at once): ==================== C: 7'1 235 Micah Handlogten PF/G: 6'6 200 CJ Ingram SF/G: 6'4 200 Isaiah Brown SG: 6'3 165 Alexander Lloyd PG: 6'1 190 Urban Klavzar ==================== ^Florida has mainly guards & centers but not too many traditional power-forwards!
UK's NIL budget is almost $21 million this season? Yikes. Pope's biggest challenge from here on out will be getting guys to mesh, because he'll have Final Four talent every year.
Good as any place to put my thoughts on the 2025/26 season: The Gators have 5 of 6 bigs returning for the 2025-2026 season as Sam Alexis transferred to Indiana: Reuben Chinyelu 6'10"/260 - C Micah Handlogten 7'1"/255 - C Alex Condon 6'11"/230 - PF/C Thomas Haugh 6'9"/215 - PF/SF Victor Mikic 6'11"/250 - C It'll be interesting to see how UF uses 7'9"/305 C Olivier Rioux after having him redshirt in the 2024/25 season. To say UF is loaded in the frontcourt is an understatement. The Gators top 4 guards are gone from the team, 3 to using up eligibility and 1 to transfer: Walter Clayton - Likely to NBA Alijah Martin - Likely to NBA Will Richard - Likely to NBA Denzel Aberdeen - Transferred to Kentucky/Speculation is $2 million NIL deal These backcourt players will be hard to replace, but HC Todd Golden has brought in replacements from the portal and the high school ranks: AJ Brown 6'4"/210 - SG/PF - JR. transfer from Ohio U./brother of SO. Isaiah Brown. Xavian Lee 6'4"/180 - PG - SR. transfer from Princeton & a top portal PG in the. Boogie Fland 6'2"/175 - PG/SG - SO. transfer from Arkansas/5-star talent. CJ Ingram 6'6"/200 - SG/SF - FR. & son of Gator great TE Cornelius Ingram. Alex Lloyd 6'3"/165 - PG/SG - FR. with high potential. While Walter Clayton is going to be difficult to replace offensively, UF has several players who can do it in aggregate, say Boogie Fland and Xavier Lee. Alijah Martin with his tenacity on defense which seemed to lift the team to higher defensive levels will be the toughest to replace. I'm thinking one or both of the Brown brothers AJ and Isaiah. AJ also seems like a replacement for Will Richard, similar height/weight and skills. Alijah was such a special player for UF that I not sure UF has brought in anyone yet who can replace him. HC Todd Golden says he has one ship slot remaining. I have no clue if CTG has his eyes on someone for the last ship slot. I hope he is looking for a tenacious defensive SG. With the return of guards Isaiah Brown and Urban Klavzar, UF is loaded in the backcourt too minus that hardnosed defensive player who can replace Alijah Martin, to be determined. I see no reason why UF can't go back-to-back. The key will be developing team chemistry at a high level like what UF had last season. The Gators will be toughened up with a strong OOC schedule to get them ready for conference and tourney play. What we know so far: 11/3 Open with Arizona in the Hall of Fame Series Mid November - Florida State (Gainesville) 11/27 & 11/28 Providence/TCU/Wisconsin in the Rady Children's Invitational 12/9 UConn in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden So far, I've seen early rankings with UF outside of the top 5 and with some in the teens. Excuse me, but I'm not buying anything outside of the top 4. There is just too good of coaching combined with high levels of player talent. The last time UF had this much talent in back-to back years, the Gators went back-to-back in 2006 & 2007.
I misquoted, it actually said $20 million. "The scoop: Kentucky's NIL budget eclipsed an eye-popping $20 million, and Mark Pope's squad should be much-improved defensively with Dioubate, Oweh and Aberdeen locking up on the perimeter. When Quaintance gets healthy, Kentucky will have a special defender at all three levels of the floor."
Since the NBA draft announcements, I haven’t seen any outlet rank the Gators in the teens. ESPN had Florida at #19 before the portal and draft moves. They now have Florida at #2. Florida, Houston rise in our men's NCAA top 25 after NBA draft withdrawal deadlineHow NBA draft withdrawal moved our early NCAA top 25 rankings - ESPN
Everybody is gaga over Quaintance at Kentucky, but he didn't pose much of a problem to the Gators against Arizona State.
Likely not, but I hope he fully recovers at some point. That said, we faced him when he was fully healthy, and he didn't really impress but showed promise. Granted, it was early in his freshman season, when not too many expectations should be applied.
As an aside, Quaintance's coach at ASU, Bobby Hurley, is almost as annoying and unlikable as brother Dan. He whined and complained all game long. Ugly too. Head like a melon. Must be genetic.
A thought. Opposing team needs to end bound a pass from either end. Say 2, 3 or 4 seconds on clock at half or end of game. They need to get a basket. Would Ollie come in and face the guy throwing it in? Try throwing over a guy who with hands up is almost 10 feet.
