SEC: Five or more bids?
Brent Beaird, SEC Columnist
This could be a year that the SEC gets five teams or more in the NCAA Tournament. Early predictions have some combination of Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Mississippi State being selected for the NCAA Tournament.
Most pundits are predicting another stellar season in Lexington with the return of Wildcat forward Terrence Jones , who spurned the NBA draft. There is no surprise that the Wildcats will depend on another top recruiting class that includes point guard Marquis Teague , forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and big Anthony Davis.Unheralded guard Doron Lamb is one of the nation’s best shooters hitting nearly 50% of his treys.
Florida’s guards are as good as anyone in the nation with senior Erving Walker and junior Kenny Boynton returning for their third season. The addition of Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario, a prolific scorer who is a junior, prized freshman Brad Beal and sophomore Scottie Wilbekin make Florida’s backcourt a threat to anyone.
Vanderbilt might be the most complete team after three
veterans-guard John Jenkins, big Festus Ezeli and forward Jeffery
Taylor - decided to return. Ezeli will miss the first month
of the season after he sprained the MCL and PCL in his right knee.
In his first season at point guard, senior Brad Tinsley led the SEC
in assists with nearly five per game last year. He also connected
on 36.9 % of his 3-point shots. Vanderbilt’s other returning
starter is Lance Goulbourne, a senior who averaged 
6.9 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds last season. Still, no one
is going to take this team too seriously until they go deep into
the tournament.
Alabama, who should have made the NCAA tournament last year, is led by All-SEC candidates JaMychal Green , Tony Mitchell , both bigs and point guard Trevor Releford. Coach Anthony Grant has his team playing defense that would make Nick Saban proud and best of all he has recruited shooters such as Rodney Cooper, Trevor Lacey and Levi Randolph (all in-state stars) that were desperately lacking last year.
Miisissippi State, who was team dysfunctional last year, has a solid core group with guard Dee Bost, forward Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie, a 6-foot-11 UTEP transfer, who averaged a double-double on the Bulldogs European trip with 16.8 points and 11.2 rebounds. Sidney is reported to a much more mature player who is in better physical condition. A key for State’s season is to improve its rebounding after finishing No. 9 in the SEC last season.
Required Reading
Vandy coach Kevin Stallings is using several different lineups in the preseason.
Vol fans, here is a report on Tennessee’s last exhibition game.
Here is more on the progress of the Mississippi State basketball team.
Bet you didn't know
If Ole Miss fans missed Murphy Holloway, they will be glad to know that he is back. Holloway a 6-foot-7, 245-pound junior, left Ole Miss after the 2009-10 season and transferred to South Carolina. Holloway announced back in March that he wanted to transfer back to Ole Miss. South Carolina coaches allowed him to return and Holloway moved back to Oxford over the summer.
Stat of the Week
In Kentucky’s 125-40 rout of Morehouse on Monday, the starters made their first 26 shots and finished 31 of 34. At one point in the first half, the Wildcats had as many three-point field goals (six) as Morehouse had points. Kyle Wiltjer, who has an intriguing left-hand hook shot, scored 26 points on 10 of 13 shooting.
Early Wake-up Call
It’s probably a good thing that Alabama coach Anthony Grant doesn’t play the University of Alabama- Huntsville during the regular season. UAH has been a tough out for two straight years for the Tide. Point guard Trevor Releford's basket denied the UAH Chargers a potential game-tying possession as Alabama went on to win 67-60 before a home crowd of 10,000 fans on Monday night. Alabama went to double overtime in last year's exhibition win over UAH. Chargers coach Lenny Acuff has taught his team to run the Princeton offense to perfection.
Beaird's Take
SOMETHING TO KEEP AN EYE ON: Partly because the Hogs have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2008, John Pelphrey was let go and Mike Anderson hired from Missouri. Look for the Hogs to return to the Big Dance soon, but it likely won’t happen this year.
Anderson has only 11 players on the roster after three players including Rotnei Clark, one of the best shooter’s in the league, left. Arkansas doesn’t have a lot of size with only three players above 6-foot-7. The biggest adjustment for Hog players will be Anderson’s up-tempo offense and full-court pressure defense.
ONE DIVISION IS A PLUS: The SEC eliminating divisional play is a solid move. Alabama lost an opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament last year due to being in a weak Western division (amazing how the opposite is true in football).
TAKE TWO: SEC fans will soon realize what a plus
adding Texas
A&M and Missouri are to the league
in basketball. Last year the Tigers finished 23-11 and made the
NCAA Tournament. Two seasons ago, the Tigers again went
23-11 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In 2009, the Tigers
finished 31-7 after advancing to the round of Elite Eight. Frank
Haith, who comes from Miami, is taking over for Anderson.
Texas A&M is no slouch either in basketball. The Aggies have advanced to six straight NCAA Tournaments. They have also won at least 24 games for five straight years. Bill Kennedy takes over for Mark Turgeon who went to Maryland.
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Brent Beaird writes for Lindysports.com, Gator Bait magazine and Samsportlsine.com. He can be heard on 1010XL sports radio in Jacksonville, Florida. Brent, who is also a Heisman Trophy voter, can be contacted at brentbeaird@aol.com
