The most important thing we learned from every coach on day two of SEC Tipoff '26

And just like that, SEC Tipoff ’26 has come to a close in Birmingham with all 16 teams in the league wrapping up their time at the podium ahead of college basketball season. Now, it’s time to actually tip things off on the hardwood.

Day one at the Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook included Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats, along with Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas, Vanderbilt, Georgia and South Carolina. From there, it was Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma taking over on day two.

We walked through the most important things we learned from every coach on Tuesday, and now, we’re gonna do the same to put a bow on the annual event on Wednesday. KSR picked out the most important talking point from all eight podium appearances on day two.

Todd Golden didn’t have much time to celebrate the title

Winning the program’s third national championship and his first as a head coach was the accomplishment of all accomplishments, why you get into the business in the first place. Todd Golden soaked it all in with confetti angels while cutting down the nets and holding up the trophy, one of the most magical stretches of his life.

Then he got back to work, knowing the pressure is on for Florida to run it back with another top-three roster in Gainesville. There was no vacation or kicking his feet up to relax.

“It’s been very busy, obviously,” he said. “You don’t get a lot of time in the moment to enjoy it because you finish up, then that whole week you’re stressed about making sure you can bring the guys back that helped you get to that point. You’re thinking about, ‘How am I going to replace one of the best backcourts that ever played in college basketball?’ You don’t get to sit on your couch for a week and watch highlights and enjoy it.

“We wanted to make sure we put ourselves in position to compete at a high level again this year. We worked really hard to do that.”

He brought back Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten to form one of the best frontcourts in the country, but can Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee replace Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin?

“I love ’em both already, to be honest. … We’re not comparing them to Walter and Alijah. That’s just not fair,” he said. “I don’t think it’s healthy for us as a staff to do that. I don’t think it’s healthy for them as players to have to take on that expectation.”

Steven Pearl opens up on replacing his old man

All eyes were on Steven Pearl in his first public appearance leading the Auburn program after the surprising retirement decision from his father, Bruce. They’re undoubtedly big shoes to fill, replacing a four-time SEC Coach of the Year with the Tigers coming off a Final Four run and league championship.

What’s it been like in his first couple of weeks on the job?

“Drinking out of a firehouse,” he joked.

It’s not easy stepping in right before the season and having to re-recruit your entire roster — successfully, to his credit — but he’s confident Bruce Pearl prepared him for this moment and the pressure that comes with all of it.

He’s had a front-row seat his entire life, thriving with roster turnover and rolling out competitive teams year after year.

“B.P., one of the reasons why I believe I’m ready for this opportunity is because I’ve watched him,” Pearl said. “I don’t think there’s anyone better in the history of the game as far as rebuilding programs. You see the things that he does at Auburn and everything outside of the basketball that he’s elite at, in addition to being a great coach, right? All those things, I think, are really important. … That’s been a huge advantage for me to watch and have a front-row seat to a masterclass of rebuilding a program.”

Rick Barnes wants to leave the game better than he found it

Coach Cal said he would retire before embracing “transactional” relationships in college basketball, but is willing to stick around to help another “25 to 30 more families” if he can stay “transformational.” If he has it his way, he’ll be able to “fix some of this stuff before we’re out.”

What about Rick Barnes? He thinks that while coaching is good in college and beyond, things have gotten bad for the younger kids, saying European coaches came to America in the 70s to learn the game and “went back and started teaching it better than we did.”

“We got caught up in recruiting and trying to get guys and maybe not coaching them at the level we should have,” Barnes said. “I would love to see us someway, somehow improve teaching at a lower level, teaching kids at a very young age the fundamentals of the game. They watch highlights on TV, and it’s always dunking the ball or three-point shooting. There’s so much of the game that even today, our team right now that we’re coaching, I’ve actually said to them a couple times in practice, ‘I would have thought you learned that in junior high.’ Things that you would expect…

“I hope we never get away from wanting to be teachers of the game, the fundamentals of the game of basketball. It’s our game. We should be the best at teaching it. I don’t want us ever to get away from that.”

Chris Jans has smallest roster ever — but Josh Hubbard is Josh Hubbard

What does The Dentist have cooking in year four in Starkville? Well, he’s not quite sure, working with a ton of moving parts and new faces. He’s been to three straight NCAA Tournaments at Mississippi State and has a roster capable of returning to the Big Dance again, but will everything come together as planned? TBD.

“We got a lot of new — 15 players, it’s the smallest roster I’ve ever had as a coach at any level. It’s new territory,” Jans said. “… We have four guys that were in uniform with one starter and two in the rotation. 11 new players, four of them are high school players. … So we’re trying to find our identity, to be honest with you.”

The one sure thing, fortunately, happens to be his best player entering his third season with the program. Josh Hubbard is a two-time All-SEC selection and was picked as a Preseason First Team All-SEC member while also receiving votes for Preseason SEC Player of the Year, won by Otega Oweh.

Things may be different this season, but life can be a whole lot worse than having a guy with 1,240 career points back for a third year in your program.

“It speaks volumes to who he is, what kind of person he is, and how strongly he believes in our program, our community, and our university. I’ll never get tired of talking about Josh,” Jans continued. “… He’s stepped up a level in terms of using his voice. … He’s working harder than he ever has, practicing more consistently — especially on the defensive end — than he ever has. When we start playing these games, people watching him play will see he’s gotten even better.”

Porter Moser will replace Jeremiah Fears by committee

Jeremiah Fears reclassified in the late summer and enrolled as a top-50 four-star recruit. He went on to make the SEC All-Freshman Team and come off the board at No. 7 overall in the NBA Draft as a surprising one-and-done success story. That’s not easy to replace, but Porter Moser is going to try his best at Oklahoma.

How? By committee, adding some all-league talent and Final Four experience.

“Replacing Jeremiah… Jeremiah, man, he got better and better and better,” Moser said. “… But I think we went out in the portal and got two older guards that have been on the stage a lot. Nijel Pack, he’s been All-Big 12. He’s played on the stage of a Final Four. … Then we went and got Xzayvier Brown, another veteran in the back court. Played at St. Joe’s. Great league in the A-10. Was First Team All-League there. I got a back court that have been First Team All-Conference in two different, very good leagues. … I know the combination of them — and Dayton Forsythe played a lot last year for us.

“… It’s going to be by committee. I think we got some veteran guys, then another guy that was here last year that played, that are all ready to come in and fill that role.”

The Sooners were picked to finish 11th in the SEC coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance a year ago.

Dennis Gates leans on retention, headlined by Mark Mitchell

Missouri returns the second-most minutes in the SEC from a year ago, led by the team’s leading scorer and All-SEC pick Mark Mitchell to go with Anthony Robinson II, Trent Pierce and Jacob Crews. Dennis Gates added some talent in the portal and lost some program staples in Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates, but it’s still a strong core of returning pieces.

That was intentional.

“What made it a priority is that’s the fabric I’m cut from, right?” Gates said. “Traditionally if you look at the teams that we had at Florida State when I was an assistant, but also at Cleveland State, we did it with some matriculation within our program, whether it’s juniors becoming seniors or sophomores becoming seniors or freshmen becoming seniors. That retention factor, you have to protect it.

“When you look at the national championship, they had about — each team I want to say probably had a good portion, at least three starters, returning to give them a chance to move on and move forward in their season.”

The hope is that of that group, Mitchell leads the Tigers to the top of the SEC just a few years removed from Gates going winless in the league. He transferred to Mizzou from Duke when things were ugly, and now, he deserves to be rewarded for seeing the process through.

“He delivered on the call what was needed. He answered to his teammates. He’s a guy that can play one through five. He can defend one through five,” he continued. “… The other thing is continue to be the unselfish spirit, the great leader that I think he can be on and off the court.”

Bucky McMillan feels John Calipari’s pain at A&M

Remember when Coach Cal took the Arkansas job and talked about his roster — or lack thereof — in those early days in Fayetteville? New Texas A&M coach Bucky McMillan felt the same way when he first got to College Station.

“I totally felt John Calipari’s pain,” he said. “I can tell you this — we’re not a finished product, but we’re a heck of a lot better than we were in April with nobody on the roster.”

The Aggies got a late start, but given the circumstances, they’re proud of the group they put together. Should all go as planned, there is real confidence the program can get back to the Big Dance.

“I think our staff did as good a job as possible of putting together a team that I think can compete in this league,” McMillan said. “If you can compete in this league, it means you can get to the NCAA tournament. If you are in the NCAA tournament, you’re playing for a national championship. We all know what this league is. It was the best league in the history of college basketball last year. Predicted to be the best league in the country this year.”

Matt McMahon brought in a “wizard” in DJ Thomas, but frontcourt was the priority

In a make-or-break season for the fourth-year coach in Baton Rouge, he hand-picked 11 new players to potentially save his job. Every addition was intentional, starting at point guard with DJ Thomas from UNLV, who averaged 15.6 points per game last season. McMahon believes he’s found a star there.

“I think you’ll see a mix from us. Like any elite football team, it starts at the quarterback position. I believe it starts at point guard for us. DJ Thomas has been fantastic there,” he said. “I think he’s a wizard with the ball. … I think you see his electricity with the basketball.”

He’s the wizard, but the biggest priority was fixing the frontcourt. Why? He’s coaching in the toughest, most physical league in the sport. It’s eat or be eaten in the SEC, and he wanted to get some hungry dudes.

“This is the best league in college basketball, the most physical league in college basketball. We wanted to address that in our frontcourt,” he said. “… In the frontcourt, you got to have size and physicality in this league or you have no chance. I mean, no chance at all. We really wanted to address that, be able to have a power game.”

We’ll see how that works out for the Tigers in 2025-26.