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Five-minute season preview: The SEC

Bam Adebayo's toughness and physicality should solve one of Kentucky's biggest weaknesses from last season. (AP)
Bam Adebayo’s toughness should fix one of Kentucky’s biggest weaknesses from last season. (AP)

Yahoo Sports will break down the top 10 leagues for the upcoming college basketball season working backward from No. 10 to No. 1. Here’s a look at our No. 6 league, the SEC.

Optimism abounded in SEC basketball circles last fall after an influx of talent, money and established coaches appeared to bolster the long-struggling league.

Then the season began and the quality of hoops in the SEC was no better than before.

Only three SEC teams made the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years, and none would have advanced to the second weekend were it not for Northern Iowa’s historic final-minute collapse against Texas A&M. Worse yet, 13 of the 16 members of the SEC’s all-league teams either graduated or turned pro, suggesting that this season may not be any better.

What that proves is that an SEC basketball resurgence will take time to achieve. Michael White hasn’t yet restocked Florida with the caliber of players it had under Billy Donovan, Rick Barnes hasn’t yet rebuilt Tennessee into the perennial league power it was under Bruce Pearl and Pearl, Ben Howland and Avery Johnson probably need another recruiting cycle or two to get Auburn, Mississippi State and Alabama into contention for an NCAA bid.

Of course, the one program keeping the SEC nationally relevant year-in, year-out is Kentucky, which has finished either first or second in the league in each of John Calipari’s seven seasons and has made four appearances in the Final Four during that span. The Wildcats begin this season as a massive favorite to once again win the SEC thanks to Calipari’s latest star-studded recruiting haul.

Of Kentucky’s five freshmen ranked in Rivals.com’s Top 25 of the 2016 Class, Bam Adebayo could emerge as the biggest difference maker. The dynamic, muscular Adebayo is a powerful dunker, energetic defender and ferocious rebounder who should instantly solve many of the issues that plagued last season’s tissue-soft Kentucky frontcourt.

Stretch forward Derek Willis could become the perfect complement to the interior-oriented Adebayo and Kentucky’s stable of slashing guards because of his outside shooting prowess. Rapidly improving sophomore Isaac Humphreys and heralded freshmen forwards Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones give the Wildcats ample frontcourt depth.

But the biggest strength of this Kentucky team should be its backcourt, which has the potential to be among the best in the nation if its two freshman headliners make a smooth transition to college basketball.

Aside from consistently knocking down 3-point shots, point guard DeAaron Fox can do it all, from scoring or distributing off the dribble, to pushing tempo in transition, to disrupting opposing offenses with his quick hands and feet. High-scoring shooting guard Malik Monk also has a streaky outside shot, but he compensates with a quick first step to the basket and a knack for finishing in traffic. Joining them in the three-guard starting lineup is sophomore Isaiah Briscoe, a proven distributor and defensive presence who is shooting the ball more confidently than he did last season when he made just 46 percent of his free throws and 5 of 37 threes.

Assessing who the biggest challenger to Kentucky is this season is not easy because so many of last season’s upper-echelon SEC teams lost so much talent.

One possibility is last year’s co-SEC champion Texas A&M, which graduated three of its four leading scorers but hopes to build around a promising sophomore class. Tyler Davis has already established himself as one of the SEC’s premier big men and guard Admon Gilder and forward D.J. Hogg both have breakout potential.

Another contender is Florida, which returns four starters from last year’s defensive-oriented 21-win NIT team but must boost a cold-shooting offense that ranked 291st in 3-point shooting percentage and 330th in free throw shooting percentage. Further development from sophomore KeVaugh Allen and junior Devin Robinson should help, as should the arrival of grad transfer Canyon Barry, who averaged 19.7 points before injury ended his final campaign at Charleston.

Don’t sleep on Georgia or Arkansas either, both of whom boast two of the best inside-outside combinations in the league.

Senior point guard J.J. Frazier and junior forward Yante Martin headline a Georgia team that won with defense and rebounding last season, but the Bulldogs need some of their young wing talent to bolster an offense that struggled to score efficiently inside the arc. Sharpshooter Dusty Hannahs and SEC player of the year candidate Moses Kingsley will both star for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks need a point guard to emerge and some of their junior college talent to make an immediate impact to contend for an NCAA tournament bid.

SEC PROJECTIONS

1. Kentucky
2. Texas A&M
3. Florida
4. Arkansas
5. Georgia
6. Vanderbilt
7. Alabama
8. Ole Miss
9. South Carolina
10. Auburn
11. LSU
12. Mississippi State
13. Tennessee
14. Missouri

FIRST-TEAM ALL-SEC

G De’Aaron Fox, Fr., Kentucky
G J.J. Frazier, Sr., Georgia
F Tyler Davis, So., Texas A&M
F Bam Adebayo, Fr., Kentucky
F Moses Kingsley, Sr., Arkansas

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: G De’Aaron Fox, Fr., Kentucky

MAKING A LIST:

Best shooter: Matthew Fisher-Davis, Vanderbilt. The Commodores ranked second in the SEC in 3-pointers made (273) and 3-point percentage (38.2) last season, and the majority of their top marksmen are back. The most lethal is Fisher-Davis, a 6-foot-5 junior who has made more than two threes per game both of the past two seasons and shot an SEC-best 44.6 percent from behind the arc last year. Fisher-Davis will be counted on to shoulder more of the scoring load this season with Wade Baldwin and Damian Jones both having departed.
Best playmaker: J.J. Frazier, Georgia. Not awarding this to Kentucky freshman DeAaron Fox may look foolish by midseason, however, Frazier is a proven commodity. The 5-foot-10 senior is the SEC’s top returning scorer at 16.9 points per game last season and among the league’s assist leaders at 4.3 per game. With high-scoring wings Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines both having graduated, Frazier will have to take on an even greater role this season.
Best defender: Moses Kingsley, Arkansas. One of three returning members of the SEC’s 2015-16 all-defense team, Kingsley uses his strength and athleticism to impact the game in a number of ways. He holds his ground well in the post, he moves well containing and recovering against pick and rolls and he could average double-digit rebounds this season. He also was one of five players in the country to average at least 1.5 steals and 3.0 blocks per 40 minutes last season.
Top NBA prospect: Bam Adebayo, Kentucky. What excites scouts about Adebayo are his physical tools and his upside. The long-armed, powerfully built 6-foot-9 Kentucky freshman is a ferocious rebounder and explosive leaper yet is also very mobile for his size. If he can learn to give a more consistent effort and to use his size and strength in the low post more effectively, he could be the first of Kentucky’s heralded freshmen to be selected in next June’s NBA draft.
Best backcourt: Kentucky. While the Wildcats will miss Jamal Murray’s scoring ability and Tyler Ulis’ playmaking and leadership, they have replacements lined up as usual. Six-foot-4 DeAaron Fox is a capable distributor and ferocious defender with quick hands and feet that help him disrupt pick and rolls and force turnovers. Six-foot-3 Malik Monk is an athletic, slashing scoring guard who possesses a streaky jump shot, an explosive first step and the ability to finish above the rim. They’ll be joined in the starting five by sophomore Isaiah Briscoe, who has worked to become a more consistent shooter this offseason.
Best frontcourt: Kentucky. Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Georgia all have proven frontcourt standouts, but no SEC team can match Kentucky’s interior talent or depth. The addition of Adebayo should solve the toughness issues that plagued the Wildcats last season, while stretch forward Derek Willis provides much-needed outside shooting. Isaac Humphreys has made great strides entering his sophomore season and should excel as a third big man, while Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones are promising freshmen who should contribute off the bench.
Best recruiting class: Kentucky. Was there even a doubt? Five of Rivals top 25 freshmen in the 2016 class signed with Kentucky including projected starters Fox, Monk and Adebayo. Not only does Kentucky boast the SEC’s best class, only Duke and maybe Arizona are recruiting at anywhere near the same level nationally as the Wildcats.
Coach on the hot seat: Kim Anderson, Missouri. Anderson’s first two seasons at his alma mater have been a nightmare. Missouri has gone a combined 19-44 and finished last in the SEC both years amid a hail of decommitments, transfers and dismissals. New athletic director Mack Rhoades gave Anderson at least one more season to turn things around last spring in part because the timing for a coaching change was not ideal with an NCAA investigation still unsettled and potential APR violations still looming. For Anderson to earn more than a one-year reprieve, he’ll need to make inroads in recruiting and mold a freshman- and sophomore-heavy roster into a team that can make a leap in the SEC standings.

FACTS AND FIGURES

New coaches: Bryce Drew, Vanderbilt
Regular-season winner last season: Kentucky and Texas A&M
Tourney winner last season: Kentucky
League RPI rank in each of past 3 seasons: 2015-16: 6th, 2014-15: 6th, 2013-14: 7th
NCAA bids the past three seasons: 11 (Kentucky 3, Florida, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee)

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!