The college basketball regular season is a long way away — and the start of the Southeastern Conference men’s schedule is even further. Nonetheless, 247Sports’ Isaac Trotter got a head start in power-ranking SEC teams with plenty of time to go.
In his too-early outlook, Trotter has the Florida Gators at No. 5, following the top-ranked Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Tennessee Volunteers and Texas A&M Aggies, respectively.
“Walter Clayton Jr. has not taken his name out of the NBA draft yet, but if (when?) he does, Todd Golden will have another SEC-contending squad ready to rock and roll. Clayton can put himself in a special tier of guards next year,” he begins.
“Lots of hoopers get incorrectly billed as 3-and-D guards, but FAU transfer Alijah Martin actually checks both of those boxes. If he can get fully healthy, the explosive, 6-foot-2 guard should be a monster in this backcourt.”
Florida’s other guards will also be key in the Gators’ success.
“Florida has backcourt depth with Will Richard and the steadily improving Denzel Aberdeen, but the Gators could potentially look to make one more addition to this wing corps in the home stretch of the portal.”
The Arkansas Razorbacks, Kentucky Wildcats, Ole Miss Rebels, Texas Longhorns and Mississippi State Bulldogs round out the rest of the top 10, respectively. The Missouri Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Georgia Bulldogs, South Carolina Gamecocks Vanderbilt Commodores and LSU Tigers represent the bottom third of the league, in that order.
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