The SEC is expected to be one of the deepest conferences in men's basketball this season.
That preseason outlook was reinforced by the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, which was released Monday, Oct. 19, with five SEC teams ranked among the top 25 teams and three more receiving votes.
Leading the way for the SEC in the poll was Florida, which came in at No. 1. The Gators, the preseason favorites in the SEC and a contender for their second national championship in three years, return a talented nucleus of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, giving Todd Golden one of the nation's top frontcourts entering the season.
Fresh off a red-hot
run in the men's NCAA Tournament that went to the Sweet 16, No. 7 Texas is the second highest-ranked SEC team in the poll. Sean Miller went out this offseason and loaded the Longhorns' roster with additions from the transfer portal, including Isaiah Johnson and David Punch.
Elsewhere, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 13 Arkansas and No. 18 Alabama all found spots in the top 20. The Razorbacks have the USA TODAY Sports Network's SEC preseason Freshman of the Year selection in Jordan Smith Jr., and were picked to finish third in the conference. John Calipari's squad will face Virginia, Indiana, Michigan State, North Carolina and Arizona in their non-conference slate.
Here's the full top 25 of the preseason Coaches Poll, including where SEC teams landed:
Men's college basketball preseason rankings
SEC teams in bold. First-place votes in parentheses
USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
- 1. Florida (20)
- 2. Duke (8)
- 3. Illinois (2)
- 4. Arizona
- 5. UConn
- 6. Michigan State
- 7. Texas
- 8. Houston
- 9. Tennessee
- 10. Virginia
- 11. Louisville
- 12. Gonzaga
- 13. Arkansas
- T-14. Iowa State
- T-14. St. John’s
- 16. Texas Tech
- 17. Miami
- T-18. Kansas
- T-18. Alabama
- 20. Michigan
- 21. Vanderbilt
- 22. USC
- 23. Kentucky
- 24. Purdue
- 25. BYU
Others receiving votes: Nebraska 66; UCLA 64; Missouri 60; Ohio State 31; North Carolina 24; Texas A&M 19; Villanova 14; Indiana 9; Wisconsin 5; Saint Louis 4; Cincinnati 4; West Virginia 2; Creighton 2; Maryland 1; Auburn 1.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Men's college basketball rankings: Preseason Coaches Poll top 25 for SEC
