So, does this mean Philon will now be the greatest sophomore in SEC history? I mean, since he was the greatest freshman in SEC history and all.
Alabama's Labaron Philon will enter the NBA Draft
- Thread starter Shaudylo
- Start date
I like us as the best team in the SEC too, but the media will pick UF as the pre-season conference favorite. Our league is still full of really good coaches.
Florida will be loaded next year. Let's not act like Fland and Lee isn't a really good starting backcourt. And returning their entire frontcourt gives them one of the best starting lineups in CBK. Only real question will be how quickly they can develop their bench.
Pretty wild to see the college game actually get a "win" against the NBA. These players clearly would rather make $3mil for another year, than go to the league where things get tough for $8mil/3 years. 40-game season and you're an absolute star.. or an 82-game season and you're likely on the bench. Happening in the WNBA too, but obviously on a much bigger difference in the two. All because of NIL.
Yes it is but a lot of talent left and the sec wasn’t the top transfer destination like last season. We on the other hand have a solid team and I like our sec chances.
The SEC will have some tough PGs next year:
Alabama - Philon - So - 10.6 PPG
Auburn - Pettiford - So - 11.6 PPG
Arkansas - Acuff - Fr - 12th ranked 2025
Florida - Fland - So - 13.5 PPG or Lee - 16.9 PPG at Princeton
Georgia - Smurf Millender - Jr - 14.9 PPG at UTSA
Kentucky - Lowe - Jr - 16.8 PPG at Pitt
LSU - Dedan Thomas - Jr - 15.6 PPG at UNLV
Miss St - JaBorri McGhee - Sr - 11.1 PPG at UAB
Missouri - Robinson - Jr - 9.0 PPG
Ole Miss - Koren Johnson - rJr - 11.1 PPG at Washington
Oklahoma - Xzayvier Brown - Jr - 17.6 PPG at St Joes or Pack - 13.9 PPG at Miami
South Carolina - Meechie Johnson - rSr - 9.1 PPG at Ohio St
Tennessee - Gillespie - Sr - 14.7 PPG at Maryland
Texas - Pope - Sr - 11.0 PPG
Texas A&M - Pop Isaacs - rJr - 15.8 PPG at Texas Tech/Creighton/Houston (lol)
Vanderbilt - Frankie Collins - rSr - 11.2 PPG at TCU
Some tough guys in there.
Upperclass transfers:
247 PG rankings: #5 Gillespie, #6 Thomas, #7 Lee, #8 Brown, #10 Lowe, #11 Pack, #12 Isaacs, #26 Collins
On3 PG rankings - #3 Fland, #5 Gillespie, #6 Thomas, #8 Lee, #9 Pack, #10 Isaacs, #11 Lowe, #33 Collins
Sophomore returnees - Philon, Pettiford
Other returnees - Pope, Robinson
High-upside injured guys - K Johnson, M Johnson, Isaacs
Alabama - Philon - So - 10.6 PPG
Auburn - Pettiford - So - 11.6 PPG
Arkansas - Acuff - Fr - 12th ranked 2025
Florida - Fland - So - 13.5 PPG or Lee - 16.9 PPG at Princeton
Georgia - Smurf Millender - Jr - 14.9 PPG at UTSA
Kentucky - Lowe - Jr - 16.8 PPG at Pitt
LSU - Dedan Thomas - Jr - 15.6 PPG at UNLV
Miss St - JaBorri McGhee - Sr - 11.1 PPG at UAB
Missouri - Robinson - Jr - 9.0 PPG
Ole Miss - Koren Johnson - rJr - 11.1 PPG at Washington
Oklahoma - Xzayvier Brown - Jr - 17.6 PPG at St Joes or Pack - 13.9 PPG at Miami
South Carolina - Meechie Johnson - rSr - 9.1 PPG at Ohio St
Tennessee - Gillespie - Sr - 14.7 PPG at Maryland
Texas - Pope - Sr - 11.0 PPG
Texas A&M - Pop Isaacs - rJr - 15.8 PPG at Texas Tech/Creighton/Houston (lol)
Vanderbilt - Frankie Collins - rSr - 11.2 PPG at TCU
Some tough guys in there.
Upperclass transfers:
247 PG rankings: #5 Gillespie, #6 Thomas, #7 Lee, #8 Brown, #10 Lowe, #11 Pack, #12 Isaacs, #26 Collins
On3 PG rankings - #3 Fland, #5 Gillespie, #6 Thomas, #8 Lee, #9 Pack, #10 Isaacs, #11 Lowe, #33 Collins
Sophomore returnees - Philon, Pettiford
Other returnees - Pope, Robinson
High-upside injured guys - K Johnson, M Johnson, Isaacs
The first 3 teams you mentioned are all gonna be very good. Florida is loaded still, Auburn just got one of the five best young guards In the sport back, and bama is always gonna be competitive now as long as they got oats. The league is still loaded it just may not be as loaded as last year
Also I believe Meechie Johnson went back to South Carolina and it's the only time he's played high level basketball and he had South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament--he'll be a factor there.
I love the league is tough--helps you prep for the NCAA Tournament. Think Kentucky winning against Illinois in Milwaukee was a lot easier due to what they faced in Conference play--non conference where in past that's a game they'd have played just sloppy enough to lose to a team they shouldn't-and this year that didn't happen because of the calluses they built in SEC.
Agreed.
He’s in the mix.
I didn’t expect him back. He had already said he was “all in” at the Combine.
My Revised Preseason All-SEC First Team:
G Hubbard- MSU
G Philon- Bama
G Oweh- UK
F Mitchell- Mizzou
F Condon- UF
Tough choice between Philon and Pettiford, but I think Philon is a smidge better.
I’m still going with Oweh as SEC POY. Leading scorer for a legit national contender. He’s going to be hard to guard and harder to score on, IMHO.
Think about what UF lost:
Clayton- Senior, 2nd year in system, best player in the country.
Richard- Senior, 3 years at UF.
Martin- Senior
Aberdeen- Junior, 3 years at UF.
That’s their entire backcourt. That’s probably the best backcourt in the country
While they are very talented, expecting Lee and Fland to replace that backcourt and expect another Final Four run is not fair to those guys. Lee played in the Ivy League. Fland is just a Sophomore.
They will rely heavily on their frontcourt, which is really strong.
But at the college level especially, it takes a great backcourt to win a title.
I also question why Auburn is being so highly touted? They lost an army of Seniors. Seriously, they graduated like 10 Seniors including Broome, Jones, Johnson, and Cardwell, and also lost Baker-Mazara. Pettiford is the only significant production they return. Their portal haul was good, but not near as good as ours, IMHO. Hall and Murphy are pretty good, but they are replacing a killer frontcourt that was all Seniors. And deep.
Bama looks better on paper to me. Philon, Holloway, and Wrightsell form a strong experienced backcourt. Added Bethel. Their frontcourt took a hit, but the backcourt should be pretty strong.
To me, UK and Arkansas look like the strongest teams top to bottom. Wagner, Knox, Richmond, and Brazile are back for the Hogs and they add two really good Freshmen guards in Acuff and Thomas. Their portal additions aren’t bad in Ewin and Pringle. Good experience should help to offset Cal’s coaching (or lack thereof) most nights.
And people are overlooking Mizzou. That will be a tough squad next season. Mitchell, Robinson, and Crews should be a nice trio to build around.
The SEC should be more competitive as last year’s big four (UF, Auburn, Bama, and UT) come back down to earth, so to speak, after losing a boatload of Seniors and 5th year/COVID Seniors.
I will add to Florida that they also added AJ Brown from the portal, who’s a good shooter, and have a couple nice freshmen in Ingram and Lloyd in their backcourt. Klavzar, from Slovenia, will be better too. They have good depth in the backcourt.
I think that's what impressed me the most about Golden and the staff at UF. Heading into this season they lost a 1st Team All-SEC PG (averaged 16 ppg, 5 assists), Samuel (14 PPG, 7 reb) and Kugel (9 ppg), the really only high profile transfer they added was Martin and they were much better and won an NC.
They may be the best developers in the conference considering the jump their returning players made this past season.
I see your point, but it remains to be seen if it’s a “program” or a “player(s)” title. We don’t know yet if Golden has them set up to do this consistently or if Clayton (and company) just willed the team to the title.
Is Clayton Golden’s Danny Manning, Melo Anthony, Shabazz Napier, etc. or is Golden a mastermind like Jay Wright and will get his program to the Final Four consistently?
We’ve seen the Kevin Ollie’s and the Tony Bennett’s, and the Scott Drew’s ride a player or a group of players to a title.
I think Golden is better than them and might be the next great coach but I don’t know yet.
How many coaches have won back to back titles with an entirely new backcourt? How many were really contenders after losing that many key pieces? Repeating is hard, and you really need all your key pieces back to even get close.
I think UF will be good, probably top 10 good, but I’m not putting them in the top 5 just yet.
Remember when Cal won the title in 2012 and everyone thought we just reloaded in 2013 and had UK in the top 5?
Remember Billy Donovan was going to create a dynasty at UF after back to back titles in 06 and 07 and then didn’t get back to the Final Four again until 14 and lost to the likes of Kevin Ollie and lot of people thought Donovan was one of the the greatest coaches ever.
UF will be good, but how will they deal with being defending champs with a brand new backcourt?
How will they deal with having a target on their back? Being the hunted instead of the hunter, as they say?
Did you see what happened to the great and powerful Danny Hurley this season after losing his star players?
Coming off a title, it’s almost always a down year (by those standards), unless you return your core. UF is replacing their core, including their “engine” in Clayton. And Richard was no slouch either. Replacing Martin and Aberdeen won’t be easy either.
Some are underestimating the impact of Clayton and company as players.
Let’s not be too quick to anoint Golden the next Rupp, Wooden, or K. Let’s see how this unfolds.
Of course Golden isn't expected to be those guys. I don't know how he'll turn out in the long run but they have a really good core set of players returning. Losing those Guards hurts, but returning 3 players who saw extended minutes from a NC team is a really nice foundation. Adding those 2 Guards and those freshmen give them a chance to be really good again next season. If Fland is healthy he'll be one of the better players in the SEC.