BIRMINGHAM — Day 2 of SEC Media Days featured Florida, the reigning national champions, along with the dawn of new eras at Auburn and Texas A&M. And of course there was Tennessee, led by the ageless Rick Barnes, who, like Kelvin Sampson, appears to only win more as he gets older.
From the mighty Gators to the closing act of Oklahoma and Mizzou, here are 5 thoughts from Day 2 of SEC Tipoff.
The Gators will have as good a starting 5 as anyone in the sport. Again.
The reigning national champions lose all 4 members of what was, at least analytically, the greatest backcourt in the history of SEC basketball. Three of those players (Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin, and Will Richard) were taken in the NBA Draft. The fourth, Denzel Aberdeen, will bring his competitive fire and defense to Florida’s biggest basketball rival after transferring to Kentucky.
There are scenarios, even in the portal era, where the loss of that much talent would suggest a rebuild is in order.
Not at Florida.
The Gators return the nation’s most formidable frontcourt, led by preseason All-SEC first team selection Alex Condon and second-teamer Thomas Haugh. Micah Handlogten and Rueben Chinleyu, 2 of the best rebounders and rim protectors in the sport, round out the embarrassment of riches in the paint. Whether Haugh, an analytics darling who ranked among the 10 most efficient offensive players in the country a year ago, per Evan Miya, can build on a breakout 2024-25 while playing some at the 3 (instead of his usual 4 spot), is a mystery, but NBA scouts and Florida’s staff alike rave about what they’ve seen from Haugh in practice at his new position.
That leaves the new look backcourt.
Enter Boogie Fland, the former 5-star guard and McDonald’s All-American who dazzled for 2 months at Arkansas before he was lost to an injury that cost him most of the SEC season. Razorbacks fans and cynics point to the fact that the Hogs were 0-5 when Fland was injured a year ago, only to rally and become a Sweet 16 team largely in his absence.
The data says this is unfair to Fland. In fact, Fland was having, at least statistically, the most efficient season for a first-year freshman point guard in college basketball since Nico Mannion at Arizona in 2020, and his overall analytics profile compares admirably to Duke sensation Tyus Jones, who won a national title at Duke in his freshman year in 2015.
Fland, now healthy, will start next to Xaivian Lee, a walking bucket who transfers from Princeton and who will give Florida yet another dynamic shot maker. Lee’s 37.3% assist rate in 2024-25 was among the best in college basketball, too, meaning he can use his wide bag not just to take and make tough shots, but to facilitate.
It’s unfair to compare Fland and Lee to Clayton, Martin, Richard, and Aberdeen, but Todd Golden wasn’t shy in expressing his confidence in the duo on Wednesday in Birmingham.
“I love ’em both already,” Golden said. “Boogie, really hard worker and coachable. He came in with a great mentality, allowing us to coach him and guide him. A great competitor. An incredible on-ball defender. I’m excited for him to be picking up opposing team’s point guards at the top of the paint, making plays for others. He’s a great facilitator. He does a great job of getting into the paint and making plays for others. Really unselfish.”
As for Lee, Golden sees another elite creator.
“(Xaivian) is a really fantastic offensive player,” Golden said. “Really quick and explosive with the ball in his hands. Another true point guard, but we’ll be able to play him off the ball a little bit. A guy that can score at all 3 levels.”
Collectively, the quintet should give the Gators one of the most explosive starting 5s in the sport. Again.
That gives the Gators a chance to compete for SEC and national championships. Again.
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Tennessee’s frontcourt might be the most underrated in the sport. It’s that versatile.
While most the focus on Tennessee this offseason has been about what the Volunteers look like without program stalwart Zakai Zeigler, the most compelling story to me is the way Rick Barnes has taken a weakness of his past 2 teams and transformed it into a strength.
Tennessee reached the Elite Eight in the past 2 seasons with competent, but hardly dynamic, frontcourt play. Last year’s team had only 1 frontcourt player average more than 7 points per game, and that was Igor Miličić Jr., much more a stretch 4 who stayed on the perimeter than a post presence. Jonas Aidoo offered a bit more in 2023-24, but the Vols were thin behind him, and lacked the optionality to play big and stretch defenses with a player like Miličić.
This season, Barnes has both, with defensive specialist Felix Okpara, do-everything Cade Phillips, Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey, the getting healthier JP Estrella, and freshman DeWayne Brown giving the Vols a group that can pressure a defense in a variety of ways.
Rick Barnes agreed when I asked him if this was the most versatile group he’s had at Tennessee.
“I think the versatility is that Cade can swing out and play some perimeter, too, because of his ability to guard. Getting JP back. We’re still working him back full speed. We needed that the last couple years. Felix has improved. I think his confidence, his leadership, he’s taken that to a different level. Jaylen Carey, he hurt us more than any post player we played against last year. But he’s learning to adjust what we’re doing, which is different for him. We’re excited about that. Probably the biggest surprise is DeWayne Brown as a freshman coming in. We weren’t exactly sure. We knew we wanted DeWayne, no question about that. We wasn’t sure how long it would take him to grab ahold of it. I think with JP being out, he had to go up every day pretty much against Felix. It’s helped him grow. There’s no doubt he’ll be a big part of our rotation of 5 guys.”
A versatile frontcourt that can score in a number of ways will complement star point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, one of the top transfers in the portal who will take over for Zeigler.
That’s an imposing group, and that’s before we discuss freshman Nate Ament, who Barnes has called “special,” a word he doesn’t use lightly and one that makes you think the Kevin Durant comparisons aren’t just Vols fans telling preseason lies.
Dennis Gates and Missouri return a ton of production. They are the sleepers in a stacked SEC.
A season ago, the SEC ranked first in the country in minutes returning, and Florida and Auburn, 2 of the most experienced teams in America, reached the Final Four, with the Gators cutting down the nets in San Antonio.
This season, the league is younger. The B1G and Big 12 are more experienced conferences, and in the SEC, only Arkansas returns more than 50% of its minutes played in 2024-25. Mizzou (38.9%) is second, though, just ahead of Vanderbilt (35%).
That returning core, led by All-SEC selection Mark Mitchell, should give the Tigers a legitimate chance to outperform their middle of the pack SEC projectioin.
“The retention, you have to protect it,” Dennis Gates said on Wednesday. “When you look at the national championship game, they had about, (Florida and Houston) had a good portion of minutes returning and 3 starters returning to give them a chance to move forward.”
Gates knows that he’ll need a jump from Mitchell, a stat-sheet stuffer who can score at all 3 levels, rebound, and guard. But he believes he’ll get it, and he can’t stop raving about Anthony Robertson II, one of the most underrated defenders in college basketball who should take a huge jump as a junior.
“We do a great job in our player development. Ant Robinson and any other young man that wants to play for us is part of our recruiting pitch,” Gates said.
Robinson is a testament to Missouri’s development program and should build on a season where he improved his offensive field goal percentage numbers by an astounding 11% from 2 and 20% from 3 and bumped his assist rate from a pedestrian 13% to a Top 10 in the SEC 25%.
If both Mitchell and Robinson take another leap in 2025-26, the Tigers, who have a deep, physical frontcourt and should defend better than preseason analytics suggest, could surprise and break through into the top 4 in the SEC.
SDS All-SEC Preseason Ballot
The SEC went with 5-man teams this season, which was a refreshing change from past years, when there were more than 5 players on preseason balloting. Limiting the team to 5 was a significant challenge, but here’s a look at our preseason ballot. Please note the decision between Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard was easily the most difficult. In the end, Hubbard’s SEC experience won the day.
First Team:
Otega Oweh, Kentucky (Player of the Year)
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Thomas Haugh, Florida
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Second Team:
Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee
Alex Condon, Florida
Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
Karter Knox, Arkansas
Malik Dia, Ole Miss
SDS Preseason Awards
The only preseason award the SEC recognizes is Player of the Year. SDS cast its ballot for Kentucky’s Otega Oweh for that honor. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with projections and awards. Here are 4 other honors and prognostications we think merit conversation in the preseason.
Freshman of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Coach of the Year: Mark Pope, Kentucky
Defensive Player of the Year: Boogie Fland, Florida
NCAA Tournament Teams: Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Georgia, Ole Miss.
5 thoughts from Day 2 of SEC Basketball Tipoff 2026 Saturday Down South.
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