Tag: SEC men’s basketball

How many teams will Oklahoma Men’s Basketball face in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll?

The SEC is deep and Oklahoma Men’s Basketball will face a difficult road based on the Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll.

This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.

Year 4 of the Porter Moser era will tip off on Nov. 4 when the Oklahoma Sooners Men’s Basketball team hosts Lindenwood at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners hope that will be the start of a run to the NCAA tournament for the first time under Moser.

Oklahoma’s retooled the roster once again through the transfer portal to build around returning forward Jalon Moore. Much like life in the Big 12, the Sooners will have a gauntlet to work through to make it to March Madness in 2024-2025.

The Sooners will face nine teams featured in the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll. They’re first game in SEC play will be a road trip against the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide on January 4. Oklahoma will also face No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 15 Texas A&M (twice), No. 16 Arkansas, No. 19 Texas (twice), No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Kentucky, and No. 25 Ole Miss.

It’s a difficult slate and the Sooners will go into new environments. How Oklahoma’s able to integrate their transfer portal additions with freshmen talent Dayton Forsythe and Kuol Atak will determine how much success the Sooners have in a pivotal year one in the SEC.

2024-25 Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll

Rank School Last Year’s Record Points
1 Kansas 23-11 743 (15)
2 Alabama 25-12 718 (6)
3 Connecticut 37-3 717 (6)
4 Houston 32-5 698 (4)
5 Duke 27-9 625
6 Iowa State 29-8 591
7 Gonzaga 27-8 575
8 Baylor 24-11 545
9 Arizona 27-9 510
10 North Carolina 29-8 498
11 Auburn 27-8 465
12 Tennessee 27-9 437
13 Purdue 34-5 390
14 Creighton 25-10 342
15 Texas A&M 21-15 332
16 Arkansas 16-17 272
17 Marquette 27-10 268
18 Indiana 19-14 208
19 Texas 21-13 166
20 Cincinnati 22-15 163
21 Florida 24-12 130
22 UCLA 16-17 123
23 Kentucky 23-10 95
24 Illinois 29-9 87
25 Mississippi 20-12 66

Others Receiving Votes

Texas Tech 60; Rutgers 57; St. John’s 42; Xavier 26; Michigan State 25; Oregon 16; BYU 16; Kansas State 11; Saint Mary’s 9; Boise State 9; Clemson 8; Ohio State 7; Dayton 7; Maryland 4; Grand Canyon 3; Wake Forest 2; Virginia 2; San Diego State 2; Princeton 2; Mississippi State 2; Wisconsin 1;

List Of Voters

The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2024-25 season: Tobin Anderson, Iona; Adrian Autry, Syracuse; John Becker, Vermont; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s; Jeff Boals, Ohio; Alvin Brooks, Lamar; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Dan Earl, Chattanooga; Jonas Hayes, Georgia State; Alan Huss, High Point; Donte’ Jackson, Grambling; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; James Jones, Yale; Greg Kampe, Oakland; Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Nick McDevitt, Middle Tennessee; Mike McGarvey, Lafayette; Niko Medved, Colorado State; Dan Monson, Eastern Washington; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Nate Oats, Alabama; Eric Olen, UC San Diego; Matt Painter, Purdue; Michael Schwartz, East Carolina; Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut State; Zach Spiker, Drexel; Brett Tanner, Abilene Christian; Stan Waterman, Delaware State; Jeff Wulbrun, Denver.

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Chris Beard, the only new SEC men’s basketball coach, talks adversity with Ole Miss tenure set to start

Beard was named AP’s 2019 National Coach of the Year with Texas Tech before he was fired by the Longhorns after a domestic violence arrest.

Among the 14 men’s basketball programs in the SEC, only one will be led by a new head coach this season: Ole Miss, who brought in Chris Beard after he was fired from Texas.

Beard, who was named Associated Press’ coach of the year in 2019 while he was with Texas Tech, took over the Texas basketball program in 2021. In December 2022, he was suspended without pay after he was arrested on a domestic violence charge. The charges were dismissed in February when Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said evidence could not provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but the Longhorns had already officially terminated Beard a month earlier.

Ole Miss officially announced Beard as their new head coach in March.

Beard was asked at the conference’s media day on Wednesday how he approached his past year with parents while he recruited.

“I just talk about the truth,” he said. “Not only what’s happened the last couple of months, what’s happened in my whole career. I also think as human beings, as coaches, as players, we all go through adversity. We all go through tough times. And I’ve always thought that’s an opportunity to respond.”

In Beard’s nationally recognized season, the Red Raiders finished 31-7, winning 14 of their 18 conference games. Texas Tech made it all the way to the national championship game, which they eventually lost to Virginia in overtime.

The Rebels finished 12-21 last season with a 3-15 conference record, the second-worst in the conference. They finished 10th in the conference’s preseason media poll.

Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV named preseason SEC Player of the Year as all-conference teams released

The results of the preseason media vote are in for the 2023-24 SEC men’s basketball season, and the projected all-conference teams are out.

Texas A&M guard Wade Taylor IV was voted the preseason choice for SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year by media members ahead of the 2023-24 season, the conference announced.

The Aggies junior averaged 16.3 points and 3.9 assists in 28.7 minutes per game last season. He scored 25 or more points four times last season, including two of his final five games as Texas A&M reached the conference tournament final. He shot 39.6% from the floor and 35.6% from behind the arc.

The voters also assembled the projected all-conference teams ahead of the season. Seven players were named to the first team, including Taylor IV,

Eight of the 14 teams in the conference had at least one representative among the 12 honorees. Four SEC teams had multiple players selected for one of the two teams: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Arkansas.

Here’s who the voters think will be the best players in the conference this season.

Preseason All-SEC First-Team

Position Player Team
G Wade Taylor IV Texas A&M
G Santiago Vescovi Tennessee
G Justin Edwards Kentucky
F Tolu Smith Mississippi State
F Johni Broom Auburn
F Trevon Brazile Arkansas
F Grant Nelson Alabama

Preseason All-SEC Second Team

Position Player Team
G Mark Sears Alabama
G Davonte Davis Arkansas
G Riley Kugel Florida
G Antonio Reeves Kentucky
G Zakai Zeigler Tennessee

Tennessee sits atop 2023-24 preseason SEC men’s basketball media poll

Members of the media think the Volunteers are the men’s basketball team to beat in the SEC this upcoming season.

The 2023-24 preseason SEC media poll was released on Tuesday, and the members of the press think Tennessee is the team to beat in the conference before the season begins.

The Volunteers, under head coach Rick Barnes, have won at least 25 games in each of the past two seasons. They made it to the Sweet 16 in last season’s tournament before falling victim to Florida Atlantic’s Cinderella run.

The voters also think Alabama, who won the conference tournament in two of the past three seasons under head coach Nate Oats, will slide down to fifth in the conference standings.

South Carolina and LSU may have two of the best women’s basketball programs in the country, but the preseason voters think they’ll slot in as the worst two men’s teams in the SEC on the court.

Here’s how the full poll turned out.

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

How much does each SEC school spend on basketball? Here are the numbers.

Here’s the lowdown on what SEC schools are spending on basketball.

Southeastern Conference basketball programs spent more than $163 million in total operating expenses during the 2021-22 fiscal year according to the latest data obtained by the USA TODAY Sports Network in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University. The numbers represent a 40% overall increase over the previous year.

However, in current dollars, two schools spent less than they did in the 2018-19 fiscal year: the Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gators. The Tide’s expenditures totaled nearly $16 million that season and fell down to $10.9 million in the most recent year. Meanwhile, the Gators’ real-dollar spending went down from $9.7 million to $8.8 million.

Look below at each SEC school’s expenditures (minus the Vanderbilt Commodores, who are a private institution) on their basketball teams, with the total operating costs and recruiting costs presented, and where that program ranks among its peers in parentheses.