SEC basketball’s preseason picture already has a few teams making noise, and the early scrimmage and exhibition action has done little to settle the bigger questions. Kentucky opened with a win, Alabama keeps looking like an offensive machine, LSU’s thin rotation held up, Florida stumbled in overtime, and Tennessee’s defense has some work to do.
Kentucky’s first test was a 69-49 win over Little Rock, a projected OVC contender, and the biggest takeaway was a sharper defensive edge. The offense, though, was slow to find its rhythm.
Kentucky finished with just 12 assists against 19 turnovers, and sophomore center Malachi Moreno didn’t have much of an impact. The backcourt pairing of Alex Wilkins and Zoom Diallo is going to matter a lot if the Wildcats are going to exceed expectations, and the next matchup should say more about where that group stands.
Alabama, even without suspended star guard Aden Holloway, rolled through wins over Furman and Ole Miss while averaging around 100 points per game. One of the reasons is Cole Cloer, the former top-100 prospect who redshirted at NC State before transferring to Alabama.
He scored at least 12 points in both games and dropped 18 against Ole Miss, drilling four three-pointers in that one. Cloer has already shown he can be a dangerous shooter, and that only adds to what was already expected to be one of the nation’s best offenses.
LSU’s situation is a little different, but the early returns were encouraging. With multiple players still waiting to become eligible, the Tigers used only a six-man rotation against McNeese State and UCF.
Even with five players logging between 35 and 40 minutes across those two games, they still came away with wins. For Coach Will Wade, that’s a solid opening stretch, though the lack of depth is going to be a problem if injuries hit.
Donovan Dent and Michael Ruzic should put up big numbers, but this roster is going to be stretched thin.
Florida, meanwhile, did not get the clean start many expected. The Gators, who have a strong chance to be No. 1 in the preseason AP poll, lost in overtime to Baylor on Sunday.
Denzel Aberdeen’s shooting line stood out most in the defeat: the Kentucky transfer went 3-for-16 from the field and took the most shots on the team. Aberdeen was a key bench piece when Florida won the national title two years ago, and after returning for a bigger role, his first outing was heavy on misses.
Tennessee also opened in disappointing fashion, dropping an 86-70 home game to Xavier. The second half was the problem, with the Vols giving up 59 points after halftime.
Rick Barnes has built teams around elite defense for years, but this roster lost several important defenders in the offseason and added plenty of scoring talent in their place. The early read is that the defense is not where it needs to be yet, though there’s still time for that to change.
In Other News...
Tramell Jones Jr. Just Gave Florida A Reason To Believe
A freshman making his first career start is rarely asked to steady a program against a top-10 opponent, but Tramell Jones Jr. walked into that kind of assignment and gave Florida exactly the kind of calm it needed. The Gators rallied from a 17-3 deficit to beat seventh-ranked Texas 27-24, and Jones played a central role in getting them back into it, completing 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
For Florida, the win was about more than surviving an early hole. It was about seeing a young quarterback handle pressure, keep the offense moving and give the Gators a chance when the game tightened late. The defense finished the job with a late fumble by Texas quarterback Arch Manning, but the bigger takeaway in Gainesville is hard to miss: there is at least a reason to believe Florida has found something it can build on. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Suddenly Has A Bigger Opportunity Than Anyone Expected
Floridas win over Texas came at exactly the right time, giving Billy Napiers team a needed jolt after a season that has already swung from a 4-0 start to back-to-back losses. The bigger picture around college football has been just as unpredictable, with results across several conferences reshuffling expectations almost every week, and Florida has managed to keep itself in the conversation despite the early turbulence.
With the bye week now in hand, the Gators are in a better spot than many projected before the season, both in the SEC race and in the overall record chase. The Texas victory did more than settle things down for a day, too, because it left Floridas preseason goals still within reach as the schedule moves into its next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Turned The Big 12 Race Into Something Much Bigger
A wild Saturday across college football sent shockwaves through the AP poll, and BYU was one of the biggest beneficiaries after upsetting Notre Dame to climb to No. 2. The chaos was unprecedented, with five of the top seven teams losing on the same day for the first time in AP history, and Miami surged to No. 1 after its double-overtime win against Florida State.
For Florida fans, the broader picture is just as striking because the Gators were part of a day that helped redraw the national conversation in a hurry. Ohio State held off Indiana, Tennessee beat Alabama, Florida knocked off Texas, and Auburn beat Georgia, turning what could have been a routine Saturday into a rankings reset that left the Big 12 race and the rest of the playoff picture looking far more volatile than before. [Read more 🡒]