2021-2022 SEC

Here are my thoughts on the SEC men's basketball teams this coming season. I have no doubt that many of you will disagree, and I will probably disagree with my initial analyses as the season progresses, or maybe even before it starts. I think that there are 3 tiers of teams heading into the season. Tier 1 is composed, in alphabetical order, of Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee. Tier 2 is composed, in alphabetical order, of Florida, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Texas A & M. Tier 3 is composed, in alphabetical order of Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. I will preview a different team every couple of days or so starting today with Alabama.

Bama is loaded at the 2 guard positions with 2 5-stars, 4 4-stars and a 2-star in Jahvon Quinery, Nimari Burnett, Jaden Shackelford, J.D. Davison, Darius Miles, Jusaun Holt and Keon Ellis, respectively. One of the 5-stars, Burnett, appears to be out for the season with an acl tear. Quinerly and Shackleford averaged 27 ppg, 5.2 apg and 6 rpg between the 2 of them last season. Quinerly shot 43.3% from the 3-point line last season. Miles and Ellis were solid bench players last season and should be improved. Davison is a skywalker who potentially is a lottery pick in the next draft. Holt is a big 2-guard who was a top-100 high school player last season. The Bama guard spots are so loaded that 3 of the guards could be in the starting lineup.

The highly sought after transfer, Noah Gurley, and Juwan Gary are the only listed small forwards on the team. Gurley, the 6' 8" Furman transfer, averaged 15.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 2.5 apg last season at Furman. He also shot about 58% from 2 and 34% from 3. He likely starts at the 4 this season. Gary looks like a solid backup at the 3.

Bama also is loaded at the big-man spots with 4-star 6'11" big man Alex Tchikou, 4-star 6'11" Charles Bediako and 4-star 6'8" Keon Ambrose-Hylton.

Bama finished last season ranked 5th in the country and had one of the best defenses in the land. They lose several good players, but bring in a great guard in Davison while returning a 2nd Team All-SEC guard in Shackleford and an SEC tourney MVP in Quinerly. Add in all of the talented big men and the across the board depth, plus a terrific coach in Nate Oats, and Bama should once again be a solid nationally ranked team.

 

Alabama-part 2. One correction, Davison is actually a 5-star recruit and is ranked among the top-10 freshman by some services. Bama has 2 JUCO players on the team in Ellis and Rojas who contributed quite a bit last year. Ellis, a 6'6" junior from Florida was outstanding coming off the bench last year and is a starter-level player. He played 17.5 mpg last season and shot 60% from 2, 38.9% from 3 and 72.3% on his free throws. Noah Gurley is one of the higher rated transfers in college this season. He averaged 15.4 ppg and about 23 ppg over the final 6 games of last season including 29 against Wofford and 30 against VMI to end the season. Against Furman's 2 biggest opponents last season(Cincinnati and Alabama), he scored 20 and 15 points respectively. He also had a 21 point game against Auburn in the prior season.

Of the 10 other scholarship players on the Bama roster, 3 of them were 5-star recruits and the other 7 were 4-star recruits. The bottom line is that this team is loaded. I expect the starting lineup to be Quinerly, Shackleford, Davison, Gurley and Bediako, but there is no question that there are several other players on the roster who can make a case for starting. As an aside, Bama has gotten a commitment from Jaden Bradley, who is the #1 rated point guard in the 2022 high school class. He plays for IMG.

Tomorrow - Arkansas.

 

Arkansas Razorbacks: For future reference, Arkansas has commitments for 2022 so far from 2 5-stars and 3 4-stars and are ranked on 247 Sports as having the 2nd best 2022 class behind Duke. As for this coming season, Arkansas goes 12 deep with really good players despite losing Moses Moody and a few other solid players. Tiny 5'7" point guard Chris Lykes (Miami, FL transfer) should start at the point. He averaged 15.5 ppg, 5.5 apg and 2.0 spg for Miami last season. 6'4" sophomore returnee Davonte Davis likely starts at the SG and can backup Lykes at the point. He is a slasher, not a shooter, but he can handle the ball and play defense. 6'6" Pittsburg transfer, Au'Diese Toney looks to start as the 3rd guard in the lineup. He averaged 14.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg for Pitt last season, 6'6" South Dakota transfer Stanley Umude also looks like a guy who needs to be in the lineup. He averaged 21.5 ppg and 7 rpg for South Dakota last season. The center spot is wide open as Musselman could go with 7'3" giant Conner Vanover or 6'10" Jaylin Williams or he could choose to go small with 6'7" Kamani Johnson who averaged 11ppg and 6.7 rpg last season for Prairie View. Also on the team are SEC 6th man of the year last year, J.D. Notae, who averaged 12.8 ppg last season, 6'5" 4-star freshman Chance Moore, talented sophomore guard K.K. Robinson, 6'6" transfer from Texas A&M, Jaxson Robinson, and 6'6" transfer from Wichita State, Trey Wade, who averaged 6.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg for Wichita State last season. This team is deep and well coached, and they make it into my top tier in the SEC.

 

Auburn: You have to start with the big men when you evaluate Auburn. They are bringing in 6'10" Jabari Smith, who is the highest rated recruit in their history. He likely will start at the 4. They also are bringing in 7'1" UNC transfer, Walker Kessler, who would be the 2nd highest rated recruit in their history if he had originally signed with Auburn. He should start at center. Kessler averaged only 4.4ppg for UNC last season as a freshman, but I expect him to break out big time. Kessler got very little playing time until the last 3rd of the season last year, but after that he had some outstanding games. For example, he played 24 minutes against FSU on 2/27, and he scored 20 points on 9 for 10 shooting and 2 for 2 from the line. He also had 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Then, in the first game of the ACC tourney against Notre Dame, he played 21 minutes and scored 16 points on 7 for 11 shots and 2 for 2 from the line. He also had 12 rebounds and an astonishing 8 blocked shots in that game. Auburn also has a solid 6'11" 4 star backup in sophomore Dylan Cardwell who had a fine freshman year; plus they have a 6'10" junior who will also contribute. They have a future pro in 6'6" junior guard, Allen Flanigan, who will be out with an injury for a couple of months. He averaged over 14ppg last season for Auburn. The Tigers also have 3 transfer guards coming in who are all solid players. One of them, Wendell Green Jr, averaged around 16 ppg and 5 assists as a freshman for EKU last season. Another, senior, Zep Jasper, averaged around 16 ppg for Charleston last season. Finally, they brought in K.D. Johnson, who averaged 13.5 ppg for Georgia last season as a freshmen. In addition, they bring back 6'6" guard Devan Cambridge who started most of last season and averaged about 9 ppg. Finally, at forward, they bring back 6'8" 230 pound 4-star junior Jaylin Williams who averaged about 11 ppg and 5 rpg last season and 6'6" 240 pound soph Chris Moore who looks like a solid player. This team, like Alabama and Arkansas, is loaded with talent and deserves to be in tier 1.

 

I ran out of gas on this thread a few months ago, but, if you read post #9 above, it looks like I nailed it on Auburn, especially with respect to Walker Kessler.