Loaded SEC prepares for 'another historical year' behind No. 1 Florida and others

Florida coach Todd Golden has a prediction for the Southeastern Conference this season:

“It’s going to be as good as it was two years ago,” he said. “Everybody got better.”

The powerhouse league put a record 14 teams into the NCAA Tournament in 2025. Auburn landed the overall No. 1 seed in the tourney that year and advanced to the Final Four along with the Gators, who ended up cutting down the nets in San Antonio.

The SEC failed to maintain that level of dominance in 2026, getting four fewer teams into the NCAA field and advancing only Tennessee to the Elite Eight. But with the tournament expanding from 68 to 76 teams, could the SEC snag nearly 20% of the spots in 2027? The league will open the season with seven teams ranked in the AP Top 25 .

“The rosters, when you look across the board right now, tell you this is going to be another historical year in the SEC,” Georgia coach Mike White said.

It starts with No. 1 Florida , which returned four starters, including three of the most decorated frontcourt players in the conference. Center Rueben Chinyelu was the national defensive player of the year, forward Thomas Haugh was a first-team All-SEC forward and Alex Condon earned second-team honors while emerging as one of the most versatile big men in the country.

The Gators also returned point guard Boogie Fland and SEC sixth man of the year Urban Klavzar. Still, Golden wanted more. So he brought back shooting guard Denzel Aberdeen, who spent last season at Kentucky after three years in Gainesville. Aberdeen needed a court injunction to land a fifth year of eligibility.

“It puts us in better spot to win the national championship,” Aberdeen said. “We want nothing less than that. That’s our goal for this year, and we’re going to do everything we can to get that.”

Aberdeen, Chinyelu, Condon and Haugh were mostly role players when Florida won the national title in 2025, getting a front-row seat to watch guards Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin and Will Richard carry the Gators to the crown. Now they’re the backbone of the team widely picked as the preseason favorite to win it all in five months in Detroit.

“It’s probably going to be more intense this year being chased,” Condon said. “Everyone’s treating (us) like it’s the national championship for them."

Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner, Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard and Alabama’s duo of Amari Allen and Aden Holloway give the league some of the best guards in the country. Florida’s trio, Kentucky’s Malachi Moreno and Arkansas’ Billy Richmond are frontcourt players to watch.

“The competition this year … even on your best night, you better be ready,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “But even if you are ready, you know you’re going to be in for a battle because I think every team, as you look around the league, has improved themselves on paper certainly.”

Kansas State point guard PJ Haggerty landed at Texas A&M. Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic signed with Kentucky. Colorado point guard Isaiah Johnson found a new home with Texas. Forward Juke Harris moved from Wake Forest to Tennessee, and forward David Punch left TCU for Texas.

And several guys swapped schools within the conference, including Texas signing former Auburn forward Elyjah Freeman and former Tennessee guard Amari Evans, and Arkansas bringing in former Georgia guard Jeremiah Wilkinson.

No. 7 Texas added the nation’s top recruiting class, including dynamic forwards Marcus Spears Jr. and Austin Goosby. Arkansas, meanwhile, landed the No. 2 high school prospect in the country, guard Jordan Smith Jr.

“I’m loving what I’m seeing. But for anybody to predict this team, you’re crazy,” Razorbacks coach John Calipari said. “I don’t have an idea. Will we be good? Will we be real good? Will we be bad? I don’t know yet. When you’re talking 17, 18, some 19-year-olds, how are they going to react when they get punched in the mouth? Don’t know yet. How do they react if they’re not playing the minutes they want to play? I don’t know yet.”

LSU made the league’s only coaching change after last season, firing Matt McMahon and re-hiring Will Wade on the same day. Wade took an “unconventional approach” to rebuilding LSU’s roster, and the Tigers are still hoping St. John’s transfer RJ Luis can gain eligibility through the court system.

Wade spent five seasons (2017-22) in charge of the Tigers, leading them to the SEC regular-season title in 2019 and three NCAA Tournaments. He was fired before the 2022 NCAA Tournament amid an NCAA probe that left the program with significant sanctions. He landed at McNeese in 2022-23 and led the Cowboys to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002. Wade left for NC State after two years there and led the Wolfpack to the First Four in March.

McMahon, hired to replace Wade in 2022, went 60-70 in four years, including a 17-55 record in SEC play before being let go.

Champion: 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. Mississippi, 14. LSU, 15. Mississippi State, 16. South Carolina.

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