SEC men’s basketball preseason media poll
1. Kentucky2. Florida3. Texas A&M4. Georgia5. Arkansas6. Vanderbilt7. Alabama8. South Carolina9. Ole Miss10. Mississippi State11. Auburn12. LSU13. Tennessee14. Missouri
Preseason All-SEC men’s basketball
First team: Arkansas — Moses Kingsley (Sr., F, 6-10, 230), player of the year; Georgia — J.J. Frazier (Sr., G, 5-10, 155); Kentucky — Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, Kentucky (Fr., F, 6-10, 260), De’Aaron Fox (Fr., G, 6-3, 187); Texas A&M — Tyler Davis (So., C, 6-10, 270).Second team: Florida — KeVaughn Allen (So., 6, 6-2, 183); Georgia — Yante Maten (Jr., F, 6-8, 240); Kentucky — Isaiah Briscoe (So., G, 6-3, 210), Malik Monk (Fr., G, 6-3, 200); LSU — Antonio Blakeney (So., G, 6-4, 190); Mississippi State — Quinndary Weatherspoon (So., G, 6-4, 202); Vanderbilt — Luke Kornet (Sr., F, 7-1, 250).
NASHVILLE - Apparently it's not only the University of Tennessee football team that can't avoid a visit to the orthopedic surgeon's office.
Volunteers men's basketball coach Rick Barnes arrived at the Southeastern Conference's Tipoff media event with his left shoulder girded by a sling due to rotator cuff surgery.
"Two to three more weeks," Barnes said Wednesday morning at Bridgestone Arena. "I'll be fine."
Whether or not it will show up in the win-loss record this season, his program should be just fine, too.
"We've got some new guys who are better than we thought they'd be," Barnes said. "These young guys came in eager and hungry. We could have four or five freshmen on the court at the same time."
This isn't to say the new Vols carry the same ceiling for success at season's end as Kentucky's latest recruiting class.
While not a single Vol was among the 12 players named to the preseason All-SEC team (five players are picked for the first team, seven for the second team), Kentucky had four of those top 12 players and three were freshmen. The Wildcats picked were first-teamers DeAaron Fox (freshman point guard) and Edrice "Bam" Adebayo (freshman center), and second-teamers Isaiah Briscoe (sophomore guard) and Malik Monk (freshman guard).
With only Georgia joining Kentucky with multiple selections - the Bulldogs picked were point guard J.J. Frazier (first team) and forward Yante Maten (second team) - it's pretty simple to see why the Wildcats were predicted to win the league for the 12th time since the start of the 1998-99 season, as well as why the Vols were predicted to finish ahead of only Missouri in the 14-team conference.
Florida was chosen second in the media's preseason poll, followed by Texas A&M, Georgia, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Alabama, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Auburn and LSU.
Arkansas big man Moses Kingsley was selected the SEC's preseason player of the year. Vanderbilt senior forward Luke Kornet made the second team.
Not that any of this seems to bother Barnes or senior wing Robert Hubbs III.
"I wish they'd picked us last so we can make an even bigger impact," said Hubbs, who averaged 10.6 points per game last season, when he started 16 times. "We'll definitely be better on defense this year. I can promise you that."
Barnes said Tennessee likely would have avoided losing 19 games last season, his first leading the program, if top scorer Kevin Punter (22.2 ppg) hadn't missed most of the final month of the regular season with a foot injury that required surgery.
Even with that setback - and nine new faces - the 62-year-old Barnes said of the changes he's implemented, "We believe that our culture can win games."
Barnes has developed that culture everywhere he's been on his way to guiding five different Division I programs to a total of 619 wins, 22 NCAA tournament appearances and one Final Four, the latter accomplishment with Texas in 2003.
And unlike last season, he'll have not only depth but a pass-first point guard - redshirt freshman Lamonte Turner, whose presence likely would have moved Punter to shooting guard last season had Turner not been ruled ineligible for academic reasons.
How potentially good is Turner? Former Vols player and current SEC Network analyst Dane Bradshaw has an idea.
"Whenever I'd go to practice last season," Bradshaw said, "Turner was the second-best player on the court behind Punter."
If nothing else, Hubbs believes last season was definitely the last time anyone should expect Tennessee's season to end with a loss in the SEC tournament.
Referring to this season's league tourney once again being staged inside Bridgestone Arena, Hubbs said, "We know this year that once we're done playing in Bridgestone, we're not done playing basketball for the year."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.