OP, I just saw this and I am not trying to be one of those on here that makes unrealistic or should say, very long shot of being accurate type expectations and then when we fall short of these outrageous and poor expectations, I am burning down the board like all the other cliff jumpers and haters on here.
With all that said, I haven't kept up with most of the other teams and their movements, but just as normally expected I would expect schools that fill in every year after losing big pieces to fill in with studs from the past couple of classes and portal additions. I mean let's look at it.
Bama------Agree they lose a lot but they should be absolutely loaded again. They lose top 3 scorers but return all the next several top scorers. You can't overlook their highly rated transfers in this class with Bethea and bigs in Bol Bowen (6'10") and Williamson (7'0"), not to mention they have a highly ranked G in their HS ranks this cycle as well. They appear to be filthy loaded and should be a top tier SEC team again
Auburn------Broome is huge. It doesn't help their cause about losing Mazara, Kelly and Jones, but it is Auburn and Pearl and they always get the pieces and have so again. Potential studs in Williams-Adams, Magwood and Walker. They got a couple real studs from junior colleges and then they pulled strong in the portal. A proven SEC vet in Murphy from Miss St and then Overton who looks like he could be a stud after showing well at ttech and an appearance in E8 this year and lost by only 6 pts to the eventually national champs in Florida Gators. Lastly, can't forget Hall as a proven stud from UCF as their top scorer and scoring almost 19 per game. That's nothing to take for granted. Auburn loaded up again.
Florida-----despite losing so many pieces as you mentioned, I would still think they very well might be odds on favorite to win the Natty again. There is no doubt they went out to replace those pieces with a top 40 player from the HS ranks and absolutely killing it in the portal with 5* stud in Boogie Fland from Arky and highly rated studs from Ohio and Princeton. It's unbelievable that they have all their bigs returning from that national champ team and yeah, I will say it again, won't surprise me if they make a deep run and possibly another F4 or the finals.
Tenn--------I never count out Rick Barnes. Yeah, he is losing 2 of his top 5 scorers (Lanier, Milicic) which btw, are 2 of his 4 transfer portal pick ups in last cycle (2024). He is bringing in a top 5 nationally ranked player in Ament, good shooter with good size in Evans and a big space eater anchor in Brown when it comes to the HS ranks. Add in excellent portal work with an impact SEC vet in Jaylen Carey from Vandy and a really highly rated .9700 transfer coming from Maryland in Gillespie. Lastly, Amaree Abram who was at one time committed to the Aggies under Buzz is transferring in at the PG spot. Barnes is flat out loaded up again.
old piss---------very intriguing but with Beard and his massive raise, I can't really count him out. He seems to be able to maximize what he has. There is no doubt, other than us, they probably lost more than anybody else. But, he did grab some nice pieces in this 24 cycle and a fairly impressive 25 class. He will have to work hard to get all these pieces to mesh but not as much as us as he does have some returning pieces that are very nice from both of the last 2 cycles both HS prospects and portal additions. I won't count out what Beard can do so I wouldn't just count them out. Less sure of them than the others already listed before.
whorns--------No kidding, everybody is gone. #1 scorer Johnson, #2 scorer Kaluma, #4 scorer Tramon Mark, #5 scorer Shedrick, #7 scorer Kent and #8 scorer Larry. Yeah, no joke, only leaves their #3 scorer in Pope and #6 scorer in Weaver. Those guys are both Guards but it really weird they are in short supply of guards. I mean sure they are getting a portal guy from St Johns with Wilcher but seriously, other than those 3, right now from what I can tell, they have nothing else but forwards and centers. Maybe 1 or 2 of those forwards can play at the 3 but most of them all look to be 4s or 5s. I am sure Sean Miller will find some guards to still add in the portal. I simply think just b/c of the Sean Miller hire and he will do more with less, they should be improved over last year's 6 SEC wins but top of the SEC or even top half, IDK????
Kentucky-----it is Kentucky basketball after all. They literally lose everybody except Oweh, Garrison, Kriisa, Chandler and Noah. No way to make lite here, that is massive. But, as I said, you never know. I mean it is Kentucky Basketball. They absolutely loaded up in both HS ranks (2 guys are 5* guys of course), a strong 4* guy rated .9541 and a Croatian that is very skilled playing overseas. Then, you add in an absurd amount of talent and experience from the portal with 6 members........
Reece Porter 7'1" C from Maryland, rating .8900
Denzel Aberdeen G from Florida, rating .9500
Jayden Quaintance 6'9" 230 C from Zona St, rating .9800
Mouhamed Dioubate 6'7" SF from Bama, rating .9400
Jaland Lowe 6'3" PG from Pitt, rating .9500
Kam Williams 6'8" 190 SF from Tulane, rating .9500
When looking at the previous pieces and then adding in these 10 additions in this 2025 class from both HS and portal, they don't appear to be lacking. We will see what they can do but Pope is new at this but successful so far and acquired enough talent that I would think they should be in that top tier.
I will admit with the piss poor timing and Buzz taking everybody except 1 player, how late we are getting started, I have been impressed with what Bucky has done and been able to put together. There's no way anybody that has real understanding could categorize it as anything less than shocking really.
With all that said, I was originally expecting us to finish last in the SEC but now I am hopeful we might at least pull as many wins as the whorns did this past year with 6. Anything more than that would be great but there will be so many teams ahead of us just b/c of the simple fact that the SEC is for real year after year and this year won't be different. It will be a tough conference if not possibly the toughest once again and it's just so hard to start with 1 player and pull it all together even if you have higher rated talent than we do, just ask Calipari how tough it was last year at Arky and he was dealing with 5* or borderline 5* talent for the most part. I mean really dealing with a 9 player rotation made up of most all either 5* or high 4* studs, he started SEC play 0-5 and ended up at 8-10. The whorns last year made The Dance with 6-12 SEC record so I am hoping we can at least win 6 in the SEC. Anything more and I am extremely happy.
