SEC basketball begins this week. How is the league doing out on the recruiting trail?
With the Southeastern Conference beginning play this week, it’s worth taking a look to see how the league’s teams have been faring on the recruiting trail.
Who will be the biggest new stars for the next SEC basketball season?
Kentucky, once again, will lead that list, boasting three five-star signees — Skyy Clark, Chris Livingston and Cason Wallace — along with former No. 1 overall recruit Shaedon Sharpe, who is enrolling in classes at UK this winter but might not make his on-court debut until next season.
The Cats aren’t at the top of the league recruiting rankings, however, and the SEC has several promising prospects on the way for the 2022-23 campaign.
Top of the rankings
Duke pretty much has a lock on the No. 1 recruiting class for 2022, but two SEC teams — Arkansas and Alabama — are right behind the Blue Devils, bringing more promising recruiting results for third-year coaches Eric Musselman and Nate Oats.
Musselman’s Razorbacks will welcome a five-player class led by five-star recruits Nick Smith Jr. and Jordan Walsh, both perimeter-based talents. Smith is one of three Arkansas natives in the signing class. He’s also the top-ranked non-Kentucky recruit in the SEC for the 2022 cycle at No. 8 overall. All five of Arkansas’ commitments are Top 100 national prospects.
Oats’ Crimson Tide class also features five players, led by former Kentucky targets and five-star prospects Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley, ranked No. 10 and No. 17 nationally, respectively. The Tide have signed two other top 75 national prospects, in addition to No. 3-ranked junior-college recruit Nick Pringle.
Following Arkansas and Alabama in the national rankings are Kansas, Southern Cal, Michigan, Ohio State, Kentucky at No. 8, North Carolina, and UCLA rounding out the top 10.
More in the Top 25
Florida and, somewhat surprisingly, Vanderbilt have also put together Top 25 national recruiting classes.
The Gators have a three-player group ranked No. 20 nationally and led by Montverde (Fla.) Academy power forward Malik Reneau. Florida had the nation’s No. 8 class in 2019 but finished outside the top 40 nationally in the previous two recruiting cycles.
Vanderbilt’s four-player class is ranked No. 23 nationally, and if that ranking holds it will be just the second Top 25 class for the Commodores in the past decade. Only one of Vandy’s four commitments for next season is ranked in the top 100 nationally — and that’s big man Lee Dort at No. 94 overall — but this is a group that should provide a mix of instant-impact play and long-term promise for the Commodores’ struggling program.
How the SEC compares
The league has five teams with Top 25 recruiting classes nationally, and only one conference has more than that at this stage in the cycle. That’s the ACC, which has Duke at No. 1 nationally, followed by UNC (No. 9), Virginia (No. 11), Syracuse (No. 14), Notre Dame (No. 16), Miami (No. 19) and Florida State (No. 21).
It’s worth noting that Louisville — with only two commitments for 2022 so far — ranks No. 13 and last on the ACC recruiting list.
The SEC is tied with the Big Ten for the second-most Top 25 classes. That league has Michigan (No. 6), Ohio State (No. 7), Indiana (No. 17), Illinois (No. 18) and Penn State (No. 24) near the top of the national list.
A look at the Top 100 player rankings shows the SEC is leading the pack nationally. The league has more top-25 commitments (eight), more top-50 commitments (10) and more Top 100 commitments (19) than every other conference. As far as the Top 100 recruits in the 2022 class, the ACC is next with 18 commitments, and the Big Ten is third with 15 commitments.
Only eight of the Top 100 recruits in the 2022 class remained uncommitted coming into this week.
SEC recruiting rankings
A list of the league’s teams, by order of the 247Sports composite rankings as of Monday, along with each program’s national rank in parentheses and Top 100 recruiting commitments for next season.
1. Arkansas (2): CG Nick Smith (No. 8 nationally), SF Jordan Walsh (No. 26), CG Derrian Ford (No. 54), SF Barry Dunning (No. 88), SF Joseph Pinion (No. 90).
2. Alabama (3): SF Brandon Miller (No. 10), PG Jaden Bradley (No. 17), PF Noah Clowney (No. 61), SG Rylan Griffen (No. 62).
3. Kentucky (8): SF Chris Livington (No. 5), CG Cason Wallace (No. 6), PG Skyy Clark (No. 16).
4. Florida (20): PF Malik Reneau (No. 25), PF Jalen Reed (No. 89).
5. Vanderbilt (23): C Lee Dort (No. 94).
6. LSU (31): PF Julian Phillips (No. 14), SF Devin Ree (No. 84).
7. Auburn (37): SF Chance Westry (No. 30).
8. Mississippi (38)
9. Missouri (51): SF Aidan Shaw (No. 52).
10. Mississippi State (53)
11. Tennessee (74)
12. Texas A&M (83)
13. South Carolina (102)
14. Georgia (not ranked — no commitments).
