College basketball took centerstage in the Southeastern Conference this week. The men’s teams had their media day on Oct. 19, and women’s teams had media day on Oct. 18. During the events, members of the media predicted SEC Preseason Players of the Year, All-SEC teams, and the order in which teams will finish.
The media picked South Carolina to win SEC Women’s title and Kentucky to win the Men’s title.
It is not a surprise that the media picked the University of South Carolina women to finish first in the SEC. The Gamecocks won the national championship last season after winning the SEC regular-season and tournament championships.
Mississippi State University landed in second place. The Bulldogs made a run to last year’s championship game but fell to their arch-nemesis, South Carolina, in the both the SEC and national title games.
Voters picked the University of Missouri to finish third, with the University of Tennessee in fourth place, Texas A&M University in fifth and the University of Kentucky in sixth place.
The media expects Louisiana State University will finish seventh, with the University of Georgia in eighth place, the University of Alabama in ninth spot, and Auburn University in 10th place.
Rounding out the women’s-team list is Vanderbilt University in 11th place, the University of Florida in 12th place, the University of Mississippi in 13th place, and the University of Arkansas finishing last.
Mississippi State had two players on the Preseason All-SEC team—guards Victoria Vivians and Morgan William, both of whom were major reasons for the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament run last season.
For the men’s teams, the media selected the University of Kentucky to finish first again this season. It isn’t a stretch since the Wildcats have been the best team in the conference for the last couple of years. Just as likely, the University of Florida received a second-place prediction. The Gators’ program has been one of the best in the conference for awhile.
Texas A&M placed third, with Alabama taking the fourth spot in the predictions. The media picked Missouri to finish fifth, putting the Tigers ahead of Arkansas, which had a sixth-place prediction.
Vanderbilt ended up with a predicted seventh-place finish , with Georgia landing in eighth place, Auburn in ninth, the University of Mississippi in 10th, South Carolina in 11th and Mississippi State in 12th place. The media picked Tennessee to place second to last, with Louisiana State landing at the bottom in the preseason predictions.
Two guards from the Rebels landed on the Preseason Second-Team All-SEC—junior Terence Davis and senior Deandre Burnett. MSU junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon also earned a spot on the Preseason Second-Team All-SEC team.
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