Scouting the SEC: Outside Kentucky, league still trying to find a basketball foothold

What to watch in the Southeastern Conference in 2016-17:

Reasons to be optimistic about the future of SEC basketball

1. The hiring of Mike Tranghese (consultant) and Dan Leibovitz (associate commissioner for basketball) signals that the league office cares about the sport.

2. Eleven of the 14 coaches have led teams to the NCAA Tournament; three (Rick Barnes, John Calipari and Ben Howland) led teams to the Final Four. Plus Avery Johnson was NBA Coach of the Year in 2005-06.

3. New arena upgrades at Kentucky (scoreboard, video boards over center court) and Florida (all chair-back seating).

4. In August, the NCAA concluded its investigation of Missouri. A once-proud program can now try to get back on its feet.

Freshmen or newcomers of note not playing for Kentucky

1. Tyree Crump, Georgia.

2. Mustapha Heron, Auburn

3. Jordan Harris, Georgia

4. Lew Evans, Tennessee

5. Clevon Brown, Vanderbilt

6. Jaylen Barford, Arkansas

Top 10 players regardless of class

1. Bam Adebayo, Kentucky

2. De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky

3. Malik Monk, Kentucky

4. Isaiah Briscoe, Kentucky

5. Tyler Davis, Texas A&M

6. Moses Kingsley, Arkansas

7. Yante Maten, Georgia

8. J.J. Frazier, Georgia

9. Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina

10. Sebastian Saiz, Ole Miss

Sorry to see leave

1. Retin Obasohan, Alabama

2. Stefan Moody, Ole Miss

3. Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines, Georgia

4. Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Alex Caruso, Texas A&M

5. Michael Carrera, South Carolina

6. Kevin Punter, Tennessee

7. Craig Sword and Gavin Ware of Mississippi State

8. Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida

9. Cinmeon Bowers, Auburn

10. Keith Hornsby, LSU

Unsung

1. Yante Maten, Georgia

2. Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State

3. Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina

4. Tonny Trocha-Morelos, Texas A&M

5. Kevin Puryear, Missouri

Comeback-of-year candidates

1. Danjel Purifoy, Auburn (eligibility issue led to redshirt season)

2. Kasey Hill, Florida (highly regarded recruit still looking to break through)

3. Dazon Ingram, Alabama (broken left ankle forced him to redshirt last season)

Question marks

1. Will Tennessee senior Robert Hubbs III, a former five-star recruit, live up to the recruiting hype? His career scoring average is 8.2 points.

2. With Wade Baldwin IV gone, who will play point guard for Vanderbilt? Shooting guard Riley LaChance?

3. With star freshman J.J. Caldwell ineligible, who will play point guard for Texas A&M?

Best shooters

1. Matthew Fisher-Davis, Vanderbilt.

2. Dusty Hannahs, Arkansas

3. Derek Willis, Kentucky

4. DJ Hogg, Tcxas A&M

A taste of Kentucky elsewhere

1. Alabama guard Corban Collins played for Morehead State the last two seasons

2. Alabama assistant coach John Pelphreyis one of UK’s Unforgettables.

Bon voyage

1. Arkansas went to Spain in August

2. Georgia went to Spain in August

3. Mississippi State went to Italy in August

4. Missouri went to Italy in August

Relatively speaking

1. Florida’s Canyon Barry, a senior transfer, is the youngest son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry.

2. Auburn’s Ronnie Johnson, a graduate transfer, is the cousin of former Auburn star Chuck Person.

3. Ole Miss’s Cullen Neal is the son of New Mexico Coach Craig Neal.

4. Alabama’s Avery Johnson Jr. is the son of the Tide coach.

Did you know?

1. With Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson as coach, Arkansas received 22 bids to the NCAA Tournament in a 25-year span. The Hogs have gotten four bids in the last 15 years.

2. Besides Kentucky, Georgia is the only SEC program to win 10 or more regular-season conference games in each of the past three years. Georgia is also the only program other than UK to advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals in each of the past three years.

3. Kentucky opponents last season averaged 68.1 points per game, the most in John Calipari’s seven seasons as coach. UK’s 209 blocks were its fewest in the Calipari era.

4. Vandy’s Luke Kornet endured a shooting slump last season: from 62.9 percent the previous season to 49.6 overall and from 40 percent to 28 percent from three-point range.

5. After Kentucky, the SEC school that’s produced the most NBA Draft picks in the last five years is Vanderbilt. The Commodores had five players picked in that span. UK had 19.

6. Moses Kingsley, the media’s pick as preseason SEC Player of the Year, entered his name in the 2016 NBA Draft. He withdrew when not invited to the NBA Combine.

7. Scotty Thurman, a key player on Arkansas’ 1994 national championship team, is a first-year assistant coach with the Hogs.

8. Georgia can set a program record by winning 20 or more games for a fourth straight season.

9. New Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew intends to use more of a dribble-drive offense.

Ouch

1. The programs absent the longest from the NCAA Tournament are Auburn (13 years) and South Carolina (12 years).

2. Florida ranked 323rd out of 351 Division I teams in free-throw accuracy last season.

3. Georgia hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2002.

4. LSU’s Craig Victor sat on the bench too often last season because he averaged 3.9 fouls per game.

5. Mississippi State has not played in the NCAA Tournament since firing Rick Stansbury as coach in 2012. In the previous 11 seasons, Stansbury led State to six NCAA Tournaments.

6. Kentucky is not the only team lacking a lot of experience. Tennessee and Texas A&M have only three upperclassmen on their rosters (two seniors, one junior in both cases).

7. Arkansas lost eight games by four points or fewer last season

8. LSU’s 2015-16 season, which began with great optimism thanks to Ben Simmons, ended with a 71-38 loss to Texas A&M.

9. In the last four years, the SEC has ranked no better than sixth in conference Ratings Percentage Index.

Memorable facts

1. Alabama won more games (four) against ranked opponents than any other SEC program. The first of those victories snapped a 22-game losing streak against top 25 opponents.

2. No SEC team has made 40 percent of its three-point shots since Florida’s national champions of 2006-07. Arkansas came close last season: 39.7 percent.

3. Ole Miss hopes Deandre Burnett follows the example of Marshall Henderson and Stefan Moody as a transfer who blossoms with the Rebels.

Extensions

1. Tyler Davis of Texas A&M averaged 6.3 shots last season. He’ll have to at least double that if the Aggies are to contend for a second straight SEC regular-season championship.

2. South Carolina Coach Frank Martin signed a four-year contract extension last spring.

Quotable

1.“Not getting to the NCAA Tournament was a disappointment for us. But we don’t consider it a disappointing season.” — LSU Coach Johnny Jones on the 2015-16 season. Ben Simmons became the first No. 1 overall pick in an NBA Draft not to have played in that year’s NCAA Tournament since Michael Olowokandi of Pacific in 1998.

2. “When I was in my WWE days, I was a big guy.” — South Carolina Coach Frank Martin on losing more than 30 pounds since last season. He hopes to lose about 10 more pounds.

3. “I have no excuses. If I can’t win at Auburn in the next couple of years, it’s on me.” — Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl.

4. “The SEC West is better than the AFC South, right now. And we should celebrate that.” — Pearl in response to a question about SEC football overshadowing basketball.

5. “If I could trade it for a brand new O-Dome, I’d trade it in a heartbeat.” — Florida Coach Mike White on not having a home game until Dec. 21 because of renovations to the O’Connell Center.

6. “Playing time. Playing time. Playing time. Every kid wants to come in and play right away.” — Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland when asked to explain the key to recruiting a top 10-rated class.

7. “The greatest thing about Kentucky is you can do it all. You can win. Kids can benefit. It can be about academics.” — Kentucky Coach John Calipari touting what Kentucky can do for its players.

8. “It’s like we’re all the pretty girl with a big winter coat on. No one looks at her till she takes her coat off.” — Georgia Coach Mark Fox saying that SEC basketball teams are better than they’re perceived.

This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 12:57 AM with the headline "Scouting the SEC: Outside Kentucky, league still trying to find a basketball foothold."