Kentucky picked No. 1 in SEC men's basketball preseason poll

On Wednesday, the SEC revealed the results of the men’s basketball preseason media poll, which has the Kentucky Wildcats as the No. 1 team in the conference heading into the 2022-23 season.

Kentucky, which finished last season with a 14-4 record in conference play, returns star Oscar Tshiebwe who won the SEC player of the year award last season. Tshiebwe is the SEC media’s pick to win the award again in 2022-23.

Last season’s conference champions, the Tennessee Volunteers, come in third in the preseason poll, behind Kentucky and Arkansas. Among all the teams in the conference that made the NCAA tournament last year, the Razorbacks made it the furthest. The Hogs made it to the Elite 8 before losing to Duke.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

The AP preseason top 25 also came out this week, which featured five of the conference’s top teams. They rank in the same order as in the SEC media’s poll, with Kentucky sitting the highest at No. 4.

SEC coaches and select players are in Birmingham, Alabama this week for the 2022-23 season tipoff. The conference announced the roster of players that would be in attendance at the beginning of the month.

Here are the results of the SEC men’s basketball preseason poll.

SEC preseason poll

1. Kentucky
2. Arkansas
3. Tennessee
4. Auburn
5. Alabama
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida
8. LSU
9. Ole Miss
10. Mississippi State
11. Missouri
12. Vanderbilt
13. Georgia
14. South Carolina

All-Conference First-Team

Nick Smith Jr., Arkansas
Colin Castleton, Florida
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky
Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee

All-SEC Second-Team

Brandon Miller, Alabama
Jahvon Quinerly, Alabama
KJ Williams, LSU
Josiah-Jordan James, Tennessee
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee