SEC Men's Basketball Predictions

It is almost time to kick off the 2008-09 college basketball season. Nationally, 2007-08 was a down season for the Southeastern Conference with only 5 teams making the NCAA tourney - it's important to note that number would only have been 4 had Georgia not made a miracle run to win the SEC Tournament. The biggest disappointment last season was easily the 13-18 LSU Tigers. The Tigers' high expectations took a huge hit when they lost star forward (and former Freshman All-SEC/All America) Tasmin Mitchell after just 3 games.

My Predictions: (Last year's records in parentheses)

Eastern Division:
1. Tennessee (14-2, 31-5)
2. Florida (8-8, 24-12) -- could surpass the Volunteers thanks to #2 recruiting class
3. Kentucky (12-4, 18-13)
4. South Carolina (5-11, 14-18)
5. Vanderbilt (10-6, 26-8) -- Overcoming the loss of SEC POY Shan Foster will be hard
6. Georgia (4-12, 17-17) -- Bulldogs will need another miracle to make NCAA again

Western Division:
1. LSU (6-10, 13-18) -- Mitchell is back, Thornton should be up for POY
2. Alabama (5-11, 17-16)
3. Ole Miss (7-9, 24-11) -- Rebels looking to improve on 2008 NIT Semi-Finals
4. Miss. St. (12-4, 23-11) -- Needed an 18-5 rally to beat NAIA champ Ok. City in exhibition
5. Arkansas (9-7, 23-12) -- Will be lucky to make even the NIT
6. Auburn (4-12, 14-16)

The SEC should be able to get at least 6 teams - possibly 7 - into the NCAA tournament this year if the teams can take care of business outside of conference play. Look for LSU to make the biggest turnaround from last year with Mitchell and Thornton leading the way with a strong recruiting class. I still expect Tennessee to be the team to beat against this season.

Editor's Note : Thank you to Manxxman for pointing out my error!