Alabama• Head coach: Anthony Grant (6th year)• 2013-14 record: 13-19 (7-11 in SEC)• Starters returning: 4• Best player: 6-5 senior wing Levi Randolph was tough as denim for the Crimson Tide last season, hitting 35 percent of his 3-pointers and 70 percent of his free throws and providing solid defense and board play.• Nonconference game worth watching: At Wichita State on Dec. 16 (ESPN2)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: Elephants fly. Tide should be better, but so's the rest of the league. This season could become Grant's tomb as a Power 5 conference head coach.Arkansas• Head coach: Mike Anderson (4th year)• 2013-14 record: 22-12 (10-8)• Starters returning: 4• Best player: 6-11 sophomore post player Bobby Portis has the talent to be the SEC player of the year before heading to the NBA. Hit over 50 percent of his shots from the field and nearly 74 percent of his free throws last season while leading the Razorbacks in blocked shots and rebounds.• Nonconference game worth watching: At Iowa State on Dec. 4 (ESPN2)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: They stay healthy, happy and win two of four nonleague games against Wake Forest and on the road at Clemson, Iowa State and SMU.Auburn• Head coach: Bruce Pearl (1st year)• 2013-14 record: 14-16 (6-12)• Starters returning: 2• Best player: 6-1 senior transfer Antoine Mason (25.6 ppg) is the nation's leading returning scorer after transferring from Niagara. Quick and strong, he gives the Tigers an automatic All-SEC-caliber guard.• Nonconference game worth watching: Xavier on Dec. 20 (SEC Network)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: Pearl's coaching magic can produce 11 SEC wins and 21 overall victories.Florida• Head coach: Billy Donovan (19th season)• 2013-14 record: 36-3 (18-0)• Starters returning: 1• Best player: 6-4 junior guard Michael Frazier knocked down 45 percent of his 3-pointers and 84 percent of his free throws last season. Arguably the best pure shooter in the SEC, Frazier could challenge for top-player honors in the league.• Nonconference game worth watching: At Kansas on Dec. 5 (ESPN)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: The NCAA keeps staging the thing. The Gators are a certain top 20 team, maybe top 10.Georgia• Head coach: Mark Fox (6th season)• 2013-14 record: 20-14 (12-6)• Starters returning: 3• Best player: 6-5 junior guard Charles Mann is an absolute stat stuffer, having averaged 13.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal per game last year.• Nonconference game worth watching: Gonzaga in preseason NIT on Nov. 26 (ESPN2)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: The Bulldogs can get 20 or more regular-season wins with at least 11 SEC victories.Kentucky• Head coach: John Calipari (6th season)• 2013-14 record: 29-11 (12-6)• Starters returning: 4• Best player: Assuming he becomes the top-five NBA draft pick he's projected to be, 6-11 freshman Karl-Anthony Towns could become Big Blue's top Cat, given his ability to defend, rebound, pass and step outside to hit the 3-ball. But when you have nine McDonald All-Americans plus 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein, it really doesn't matter.• Nonconference game worth watching: UK also faces Kansas, Louisville, Texas and UCLA, but a visit from North Carolina on Dec. 13 should be must-see TV (CBS).• Can reach NCAA tournament if: The world doesn't end before then.LSU• Head coach: Johnny Jones• 2013-14 record: 20-14 (9-9)• Starters returning: 2• Best player: 6-8 sophomore Jordan Mickey averaged 12.7 ppg, 7.9 rebs and 3.1 blocks per game last year. Both quick and strong, he'll almost certainly head to the NBA after this season.• Nonconference game worth watching: Not many, but at UAB on Dec. 18 could be interesting (CBS Sports Network).• Can reach NCAA tournament if: Mickey, 6-10 sophomore Jarell Martin and 7-1, 270-pound freshman Elbert Robinson III -- the SEC's beefiest front line -- can dominate the paint enough to offset unproven guard play.Mississippi• 2013-14 record: 19-14 (9-9)• Head coach: Andy Kennedy (9th year)• Starters returning: 4• Best player: Senior point guard Jarvis Summers again should be one of the most dangerous players in the SEC after averaging 17.3 points and 3.8 assists last season. Might be the best pure point guard in the league this year.• Nonconference game worth watching: At Oregon on Dec. 7 (Fox Sports 1)• Can reach the NCAA tournament if: Kennedy can get the Rebels back to playing the hard-nosed defense and solid rebounding that has marked almost all his Ole Miss teams until last year.Mississippi State• 2013-14 record: 14-19 (315)• Head coach: Rick Ray (3rd year)• Starters returning: 5• Best player: 6-4 junior guard Craig Sword. Assuming "Chicken," as he's known around Starkville, recovers from preseason back surgery, one of the more athletic guards in the league should pick up where he left off last winter, when he averaged 13.7 points, 2.7 assists and 1.9 steals.• Nonconference game worth watching: Florida State on Jan. 2 (ESPNU)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: The fans can wait another season, when the Bulldogs might be good enough.Missouri• 2013-14 record: 23-12 (9-9)• Head coach: Kim Anderson (1st year)• Starters returning: 2• Best player: 6-9 sophomore forward Jonathan Williams III. The Memphis native averaged more rebounds (6.5) than points (5.8), which might come in handy for a team that lost its top three scorers from last season. Long and athletic, Williams has the potential to average a double-double this season.• Nonconference game worth watching: Arizona in the Maui Invitional on Nov. 24 (ESPN2)• Can reach NCAA tournament if: Mizzou alum Anderson can find a way to transfer the coaching magic he used to guide Central Missouri to the Division II national title last year.South Carolina• 2013-14 record: 14-20 (5-13)• Head coach: Frank Martin (3rd year)• Starters returning: 4• Best player: 6-5 sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell may be as complete a player as you'll find in the SEC this season. He averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.2 steals as a freshman, as well as hitting 37 percent of his 3-pointers and 74 percent of his free throws.• Nonconference game worth watching: Baylor on Nov. 18 (ESPN)• Can reach the NCAA tournament if: Big men Laimonas Chatkevicius and Demetrius Henry can produce enough in the middle to make the Gamecocks' solid backcourt a 20-game winner.Tennessee• 2013-14 record: 24-13 (11-7)• Head coach: Donnie Tyndall (1st year)• Starters returning: 1• Best player: 6-6 senior wing Josh Richardson should be poised to have an All-SEC type final season after averaging 10.3 points and 1.7 assists as one of the best on-ball defenders in the league and shooting 34 percent from the 3-point line and 79 percent from the foul line.• Nonconference game worth watching: At North Carolina State on Dec. 17 (ESPN2)• Can reach the NCAA tournament if: UT fanatic and country music star Kenny Chesney picks the field. Otherwise, the Vols are in a major rebuilding mode.Texas A&M• 2013-14 record: 18-16 (8-10)• Head coach: Billy Kennedy (fourth year)• Starters returning: 4.• Best player: Point guard Alex Caruso's averages of 9 points, 5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2 steals a game last year might not seem overwhelming, but he may do more to make his teammates better than any other returning player in the league.• Nonconference game worth watching: At Baylor on Dec. 9 (ESPN2)• Can reach the NCAA tournament if: Everyone stays healthy and happy and 6-10 newcomer Tony Trocha-Morelos can provide much-needed strength inside to complement a team that plays solid perimeter defense.Vanderbilt• 2013-14 record: 15-16 (7-11)• Head coach: Kevin Stallings (16th season)• Starters returning: 2• Best player: 6-10 sophomore Damian Jones. College hoops junkies are still talking about the ridiculous alley-oop dunk that Jones threw down on Tennessee last season in Memorial Gym. Having averaged 11.3 point, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a year ago, Jones is one more good season away from heading to the NBA.• Nonconference game worth watching: Purdue (Stallings' alma mater) on Dec. 13 (SEC Network)• Can reach the NCAA tournament if: The rest of the league is declared academically ineligible, thus handing its lone automatic bid to the rebuilding Commodores.
A couple of weeks ago at the Southeastern Conference's basketball media day, Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy was asked about the fairness of ESPN's multiple outlets -- including the new SEC Network -- televising No. 1 Kentucky's August Bahamas tour and both of its exhibition games, but no exhibition games by any of the conference's other 13 schools.
"It's not fair," said the fourth-year Aggies coach. "But we all have kind of surrendered."
But will they similarly surrender on the court to a Big Blue bunch viewed as so talented by ESPN analyst Jay Bilas that he's noted more than once, "(UK) has two six-man units that could each be ranked in the Top 25"?
A year after Florida won all 18 of its regular-season league games and the SEC tournament, is John Calipari's sixth Wildcats squad poised not only to match that feat but to finish the deal the Gators could not at the Final Four?
In short, is the upcoming 2014-15 season going to be a Kentucky coronation rather than a competition?
Listen to new Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall echo Bilas and it might seem that way. Said Tyndall at the SEC media event: "I'm pretty sure their first five is picked to win the league and their next five is picked second."
With UK sophomore guard Aaron Harrison -- who knocked down three straight game-winning 3-pointers to get Big Blue to last year's NCAA title game -- picked as the SEC's preseason player of the year and four other Cats chosen by the media among the league's top 10 players, it would seem difficult for anyone to deny UK either the SEC regular-season or tourney crowns.
But that doesn't mean Cal's Cats may not hit a pothole or two within a league that had all three of its NCAA tourney teams -- Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee -- reach last year's Sweet 16 with the Gators and Cats advancing to the Final Four.
"The league was obviously better than what people gave it credit for," said new Auburn coach and former UT boss Bruce Pearl, who was an ESPN analyst during his NCAA-imposed three-year break from coaching.
"When Kentucky, who played for the national championship, loses six SEC games, that tells you how much better the league was than what people perceived. This year I guarantee five, and I think there could be as many as six, NCAA tournament teams."
Pearl's Tigers may or may not duplicate the miracle turnaround he achieved with the Volunteers in 2006, when he took a team with a losing record the year before he arrived to 22 wins and an NCAA tourney berth, but his assessment of the league has much merit.
Half the teams in the conference (7) return at least four starters, and four of those won 18 or more games last season. Merely consider Arkansas, which finished with 22 wins and a 10-8 SEC mark but was denied an NCAA bid despite beating Kentucky twice during the regular season. With the Hogs returning four players from that team -- including potential SEC player of the year Bobby Portis -- it's hard to see the Razorbacks missing the Big Dance.
Then there's Georgia, which brings back four players who averaged more than eight points a game from a team that tied with Kentucky for second in the league at 12-6.
"You think they aren't going to have a say in who wins the league?" Pearl wondered.
And what of Florida, which lost four starters but returns the SEC's most lethal deep threat in Michael Frazier (45 percent from the 3-point line) and its most well-rounded sixth man in Dorian Finney-Smith, who averaged 8.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and two assists?
"I know Florida lost a lot," former South Carolina coach Darren Horn said during UK's exhibition rout of Pikeville on Sunday night, "but I believe they may be deeper and more talented this season."
Indeed, by season's end, Kasey Hill could become the SEC's most explosive point guard and the enigmatic Chris Walker its best player.
Nor should anyone sleep on LSU, which despite Kentucky's massive and gifted front line actually could have the best starting frontcourt in the league with 6-foot-8 Jordan Mickey, 6-10 sophomore Jarell Martin and 7-1, 270-pound freshman Elbert Robinson III.
But it should all begin and end with Kentucky and its nine McDonald's All-Americans, which is a record it will share with this year's Duke team.
From the moment the Wildcats learned last spring that twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison would return for their sophomore seasons rather than head to the NBA, UK has been annointed -- or cursed, if you prefer -- with the favorite's role both within the SEC and nationally.
So talented are these Cats that 7-foot junior Willie Cauley-Stein -- who's currently projected to be a top 14 pick in next summer's NBA draft -- is one of three UK scholarship players who wasn't a McDonald's all-star. No wonder Calipari insists he'll play two platoons of six close to equal minutes all season.
And if Sunday's 116-68 exhibition win over Pikeville is any indication -- Tennessee beat the same Pikeville team by an 80-62 score Monday -- the system is working. UK shot 81 percent in the opening half, 10 players logged 16 or more minutes but none more than 20 and eight players scored eight or more points.
Said Pikeville coach Kelly Wells afterward: "That is, historically, probably the most talented team ever assembled here, and that's saying a lot."
Wrote Bilas in his "best case" scenario for Big Blue: "John Calipari's platoon system works so well that it becomes the new paradigm in college basketball. All 12 guys buy in, go full speed for short stints and play for each other, rather than for draft status. The reward is a national championship and another selling point for Cal to use on future recruits."
And the "worst case" scenario for Cal's Cats?
"When you start counting minutes, worrying about stats," Bilas told the team in the Bahamas, "those are the things that can divide you."
Either way, unlike every other team in the league, it's all going to play out on television, including the SEC Network, which at least for its inaugural season will stand as much for Show Every Cat (moment) as Southeastern Conference.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
SEC
Southeastern Conference