ESPN
As the 2022-23 men's college basketball season draws closer, ESPN.com's panel of experts is predicting the order of finish for the nation's top conferences. We've already looked at the mid-majors, American, Pac-12, Big East, and Big Ten. Now our focus turns to the SEC.
Anyone still believing the SEC is only a football conference hasn't been paying attention to the preseason hype in men's hoops. The same five teams are ranked in the top 20 in both the AP poll and at KenPom: Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn and Alabama.
The last time you saw John Calipari's Wildcats, they suffered a shocking upset in overtime at the hands of No. 15 seed Saint Peter's in the round of 64. Now reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe is returning, along with enough veterans (Sahvir Wheeler, Jacob Toppin), top recruits (Chris Livingston, Cason Wallace) and key transfers (CJ Fredrick from Iowa and Antonio Reeves from Illinois State) to make the Wildcats a popular Final Four pick once again.
Then again, they'll have their work cut out for it in a deep SEC. Arkansas likely has the league's top NBA draft pick in five-star recruit Nick Smith Jr., while Tennessee returns several veterans from a team with one of the best defenses in the nation last season.
All of the above teams are hungry, because Alabama (2021) and Auburn (2022) have won the last two SEC titles outright. Let's tip off 2022-23.
Find more preseason analysis here.
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As the 2022-23 men's college basketball season draws closer, ESPN.com's panel of experts is predicting the order of finish for the nation's top conferences. We've already looked at the mid-majors, American, Pac-12, Big East, and Big Ten. Now our focus turns to the SEC.
Anyone still believing the SEC is only a football conference hasn't been paying attention to the preseason hype in men's hoops. The same five teams are ranked in the top 20 in both the AP poll and at KenPom: Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Auburn and Alabama.
The last time you saw John Calipari's Wildcats, they suffered a shocking upset in overtime at the hands of No. 15 seed Saint Peter's in the round of 64. Now reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe is returning, along with enough veterans (Sahvir Wheeler, Jacob Toppin), top recruits (Chris Livingston, Cason Wallace) and key transfers (CJ Fredrick from Iowa and Antonio Reeves from Illinois State) to make the Wildcats a popular Final Four pick once again.
Then again, they'll have their work cut out for it in a deep SEC. Arkansas likely has the league's top NBA draft pick in five-star recruit Nick Smith Jr., while Tennessee returns several veterans from a team with one of the best defenses in the nation last season.
All of the above teams are hungry, because Alabama (2021) and Auburn (2022) have won the last two SEC titles outright. Let's tip off 2022-23.
Find more preseason analysis here.
Previewing Kentucky, Arkansas and more SEC teams entering 2022-23
The countdown to the 2022-23 college basketball season continues with questions about the SEC, a conference with six new coaches and some reputations to salvage or uphold.
