The Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball squad does not have many believers to start the season.
Porter Moser’s Sooners were picked to finish 12th in the SEC’s preseason poll, which is voted on by a panel of SEC and national media members. The selection puts Oklahoma right behind Georgia and just ahead of Ole Miss.
Florida was selected to repeat as SEC champion with Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama rounding out the top five. The SEC enters the season as the nation’s top conference, with eight teams in the latest ESPN Way-Too-Early Top 25.
Along with the 12th place vote, no Sooners were selected as preseason Player of the Year or to any of the All-SEC teams. Oklahoma returns two starters from a year ago in Xzayvier Brown and Derrion Reid. Brown averaged
15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in 2025-26 to establish himself as one of the top guards in the loaded SEC. Reid scored in double figures 27 times last season while averaging 11.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Oklahoma is coming off a 21-win season in which they finished as the runner-up in the College Basketball Crown Tournament.
Ready to talk some hoops in Birmingham 🎤 pic.twitter.com/R22ziNQtHd
— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_MBBall) October 8, 2026
SEC Preseason Predicted Order of Finish
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Arkansas
4. Tennessee
5. Alabama
6. Vanderbilt
7. Kentucky
8. Missouri
9. Texas A&M
10. Auburn
11. Georgia
12. Oklahoma
13. Ole Miss
14. LSU
15. Mississippi State
16. South Carolina
SEC Preseason Player of the Year
Thomas Haugh – Florida
Preseason First Team All-SEC
Rueben Chinyelu – Florida
Juke Harris – Tennessee
Thomas Haugh – Florida
Josh Hubbard – Mississippi State
Tyler Tanner – Vanderbilt
Preseason Second Team All-SEC
Amari Allen – Alabama
Alex Condon – Florida
Milan Momcilovic – Kentucky
Jordan Smith Jr. – Arkansas
Matas Vokietaitis – Texas
Preseason Third Team All-SEC
PJ Haggerty – Texas A&M
Malachi Moreno – Kentucky
Tahaad Pettiford – Auburn
David Punch – Texas
Billy Richmond III – Arkansas
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma men's basketball picked to finish 12th in SEC
