College Basketball's 10 Best in the SEC

SI Staff | Nov 5, 2012

College Basketball's 10 Best in the SEC /

College Basketball's 10 Best in the SEC

BJ Young

Young is one of the most underrated players in the country. As a freshman coming off the bench last season, he averaged an efficient 15.2 points while shooting over 41 percent from beyond the arc. Young is a perfect fit for Mike Anderson's 40 Minutes of Hell system, as he's a dynamic athlete in transition and a knock-down shooter in the half-court.

Phil Pressey

It's tough not to love the way Pressey plays the game. The 5-foot-9 junior is a nightmare defending on the ball, but his best attribute is his ability to penetrate and dish. With the amount of talent surrounding him on the Missouri roster this year, that's an incredibly important skill to have.

Nerlens Noel

Noel isn't the same kind of player as Anthony Davis. He may be the best recruit in the country, but Davis may go down as the best recruit of the decade. That doesn't mean Noel isn't a difference-maker, however. He's an elite-level shot-blocker who will spend a year playing for a coach that is as good as anyone in the country at developing freshmen.

Michael Dixon

Dixon is the ideal complement to Phil Pressey in Missouri's backcourt. Like Pressey, he's a terrific on-ball defender, but offensively he's much more of a scorer than Pressey. Dixon was Missouri's sixth-man a season ago, but with Marcus Denmon and Kim English graduating, look for him to take over a much larger role in the offense.

Alex Poythress

Poythress is an athletic combo-forward who is at his best when he's flying around the basket. He's got long arms and has done a lot to change his body since he's been on the Kentucky campus, adding bulk and strength that should be a welcome addition when battling in the paint.

Jarnell Stokes

Stokes enrolled at Tennessee in the middle of last season, helping lead the Vols to a second place finish in the SEC standings while he should have been finishing up his senior year in high school. He averaged 9.6 points and 7.4 boards despite that. With a full offseason worth of development under his belt, expect Stokes to play a big role for an underrated Tennessee group.

Kenny Boynton

Boynton's scoring numbers didn't go up by that much as a junior, but it was a breakout season for him in the sense that he finally figured out how to a) shoot consistently from three and b) be more than a high-volume, low-efficiency shooter. He'll need to take on an even larger role this year, as he'll be the primary option in the backcourt.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Caldwell-Pope was a top 15 recruit coming out of high school, but spending a season buried at the bottom of the SEC is an easy way for the country to ignore someone who averages 13.2 points and 5.2 boards. With Gerald Robinson graduating, there will be even more opportunities for the sophomore. Here's to hoping he doesn't use them to shoot more threes (30.4 percent last year).

Trae Golden

Golden will be the guy running the show for the Vols this year. As a sophomore, he averaged 13.6 points and 4.5 assists, and while he turned the ball over too often, Golden did prove to be an efficient shooter and one of the better creators in the SEC.

Patric Young

I actually debated leaving Young off of this list. The junior is an athletic freak, but as a sophomore, he averaged just 10.2 points, 6.4 boards and 0.8 blocks, frustrating Florida fans with his potential and inconsistency. Some of that can be pinned on the three gunners that were manning Florida's backcourt last season. With two of them (Erving Walker and Brad Beal) gone, will Young finally have his breakout season?

Published Nov 5, 2012

SI STAFF