2005 SEC Basketball Preview

2005 SEC Preview

The SEC carries a dubious honor this year—it may have the largest number of key players to leave early and enter the NBA draft. Not only does something like that weaken teams, it also makes the conference less of a force in the NCAA.

Last year in this 12-team league, which is composed of two six-team divisions, only four clubs proved to be competitive. In the East Division it was Kentucky and Florida and in the West Division it was Alabama and LSU (with Mississippi State sort of in it). This season it looks like Kentucky and Florida once again in the East and Alabama and Arkansas in the West. Not much of a change but we look for Tennessee to make a push lead by one of the best coaches in the country Bruce Pearl.

Perhaps the team to be hit the worst by the massive turnover in important players is Mississippi State. They start the season bereft of their top six scorers! How does any team compensate for something like that?

The fact is in the SEC there is a great divide between the haves and have-nots. That means that four teams in each division will be out of it early. The ability to score and to stop others from scoring is pretty much the realm of the haves. How can that change? It changes by recruiting players interested in developing their talent and skills for at least three if not four years. If that type of player won’t stay in the league, things are bound to stay the same in the SEC.