SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Battling through the Southeastern Conference turned out to be tougher than anyone could\u2019ve imagined last year.<\/p>\n
The league routinely had half or more of its 16 teams ranked in the\u00a0AP Top 25<\/a>\u00a0and ended up claiming\u00a0a record 14 bids to March Madness<\/a>. And it certainly had Florida prepared for its run\u00a0to the program\u2019s third NCAA championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Matching that haul is a big ask. It also doesn\u2019t seem out of the realm of possibility for a league that opens this season with six ranked teams: the third-ranked Gators, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 15 Alabama, No. 18 Tennessee, and No. 20 Auburn.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the thing you have to have, when you\u2019re in a league this loaded, there\u2019s got to be some resiliency with your team through tough times,\u201d Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said.<\/p>\n The Gators went from ranked 21st in the preseason to winning the SEC Tournament and edging Houston for the national title. Yet Auburn also made the Final Four, and Alabama and Tennessee made the Elite Eight, bringing the total to seven SEC teams reaching the tournament\u2019s second weekend.<\/p>\n To Moser\u2019s point, 11 of the 14 teams to reach the NCAAs had at least nine losses.<\/p>\n Florida is the preseason favorite despite losing AP first-team all-American Walter Clayton Jr., and backcourt-mate Alijah Martin. Florida went into the transfer portal to land Xaivian Lee (Princeton) and Boogie Fland (Arkansas), while 6-foot-11 Alex Condon and 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu return to offer familiar size.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get a lot of time in the moment to enjoy (the title) because you finish up, then that whole week you\u2019re stressed about making sure you can bring the guys back that helped you get to that point,\u201d Florida coach Todd Golden said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to sit on your couch for a week and watch highlights and enjoy it,\u201d Golden added later. \u201dWe wanted to make sure we put ourselves in a position to compete at a high level again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Top players<\/p>\n Kentucky\u2019s Otega Oweh is the preseason league player of the year. The 6-4 senior had spent two years at Oklahoma before moving to play for Mark Pope\u2019s Wildcats and averaging 16.2 points.<\/p>\n With Texas\u2019 Tre Johnson in the NBA, Mississippi State\u2019s Josh Hubbard is the league\u2019s top returning scorer (18.9), while Auburn\u2019s Tahaad Pettiford returned for his sophomore season after averaging 11.6 points in the Tigers\u2019 Final Four run. Alabama also returned a guard with star potential in sophomore Labaron Philon Jr. (10.6).<\/p>\n Top transfers<\/p>\n Kentucky ranked fifth among transfer-portal classes according to 247Sports to lead the SEC ahead of Florida.<\/p>\n Pope added 6-10 sophomore Jayden Quaintance, who averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks at Arizona State. The Wildcats also bolstered the backcourt by landing Pittsburgh\u2019s Jaland Lowe (16.8 points) and Florida reserve Denzel Aberdeen (7.7).<\/p>\n Tennessee also helped its roster by adding 6-1 senior Ja\u2019Kobi Gillespie, who played his first two years at Belmont before averaging 14.7 points at Maryland last year.<\/p>\n Top freshmen<\/p>\n Tennessee\u2019s Nate Ament and Arkansas\u2019 Darius Acuff Jr. are the top-ranked incoming freshmen.<\/p>\n The 6-10 Ament, ranked No. 4 by 247Sports, has a lean frame but offers ballhandling and shooting range. The 6-2 Acuff is ranked No. 5 and joins Ament\u00a0as potential top one-and-done prospects.<\/a><\/p>\n Two other McDonald\u2019s all-Americans enter the league this year: 6-5 guard Meleek Thomas at Arkansas and 7-footer Malachi Moreno at Kentucky.<\/p>\n New coaches<\/p>\n The league has three new coaches: Auburn\u2019s Steven Pearl, Texas\u2019s Sean Miller and Texas A&M\u2019s Bucky McMillan.<\/p>\n Pearl, 38, will have been head coach for six weeks by opening night after\u00a0the surprise retirement of his father, Bruce<\/a>. Bruce Pearl had led the Tigers for 11 seasons, including Final Fours in 2019 and last year. His son had been on the staff throughout that tenure, but has never been a head coach nor coached elsewhere in college.<\/p>\n Miller\u2019s arrival from Xavier<\/a>\u00a0comes with the Longhorns hoping to find some stability. He\u00a0replaced Rodney Terry<\/a>, who led the program to the Elite Eight in 2023 when he took over that program at midseason after then-coach Chris Beard was arrested on a felony family violence charge \u2014\u00a0later dismissed<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and was fired.<\/p>\n At the time, Beard was only in his second season at Texas.<\/p>\n And at Texas A&M,\u00a0McMillan takes over<\/a>\u00a0after Buzz Williams\u00a0left for Maryland<\/a>\u00a0to end a six-season run in College Station. McMillan had spent five season at Samford, a run that included\u00a0throwing a first-round scare into Kansas<\/a>\u00a0during the 2024 NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n Preseason picks<\/p>\n Champion: Florida; 2) Kentucky; 3) Tennessee; 4) Alabama; 5) Arkansas; 6) Auburn; 7) Missouri; 8) Mississippi; 9) Texas; 10) Mississippi State; 11) Vanderbilt; 12) Oklahoma; 13) Texas A&M; 14) Georgia; 15) LSU; 16) South Carolina.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0(AP News mobile app). AP college basketball:\u00a0https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n