Florida basketball returned to the mountaintop last season by winning its first national title since 2007.
A poll of experts who cover the SEC for the USA TODAY Sports Network is picking the Gators to carry that momentum into a new campaign and dethrone Auburn as league champions. Florida is the preseason favorite after receiving eight first-place votes.
However, the Gators were not a runaway choice atop the conference. Florida’s biggest competition, according to our experts, is Kentucky.
The Wildcats received four first-place votes and were picked to finish second. Their last regular-season SEC title came in 2020 under John Caliprai, who is now the coach at Arkansas. The Razorbacks are fifth in this preseason poll.
Alabama and Tennessee, two teams that made the Elite Eight in 2025, are ahead of the Razorbacks. Rounding out the top six is Auburn, who reached the Final Four last season and is beginning a new era under coach Steven Pearl after his father Bruce Pearl retired in September.
Kentucky basketball’s Otega Oweh was voted as the league’s Preseason Player of the Year. The guard averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game last year in his first season with the Wildcats. He returns this winter for his senior campaign with ambitions of taking Kentucky back to the Final Four.
Kentucky’s Mark Pope reeled in the Preseason Coach of the Year honor. Pope guided the Wildcats to a 24-12 record and a trip to the Sweet 16 last season.
Tennessee freshman phenom Nate Ament is the Preseason Newcomer of the Year, while Missouri’s Anthony Robinson II is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Here is the predicted order of finish for the coming season by the USA TODAY Sports Network’s panel of 12 experts, with the preseason All-SEC teams and awards below:
SEC basketball preseason poll, predicted order of finish
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Florida (8)
Kentucky (4)
Alabama
Tennessee
Arkansas
Auburn
Missouri
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Texas
Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Georgia
LSU
South Carolina
Preseason basketball All-SEC teams
FIRST TEAM
G Otega Oweh, Kentucky (unanimous selection)
G Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
G Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
F Nate Ament, Tennessee
F Alex Condon, Florida (unanimous selection)
SECOND TEAM
G Labaron Philon, Alabama
G Boogie Fland, Florida
F Keyshawn Hall, Auburn
F Malik Dia, Ole Miss
F Thomas Haugh, Florida
Preseason SEC basketball Coach of the Year
Mark Pope, Kentucky
Others receiving votes: Todd Golden, Florida; Steven Pearl, Auburn; Chris Beard, Ole Miss.
Preseason SEC basketball Player of the Year
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Others receiving votes: Alex Condon, Florida; Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn; Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State.
Preseason SEC basketball Newcomer of the Year
Nate Ament, Tennessee
Others receiving votes: Keyshawn Hall, Auburn; Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas; Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee; Xaivian Lee, Florida; Jaland Lowe, Kentucky; Mackenzie Mgbako, Texas A&M.
Preseason SEC basketball Defensive Player of the Year
Anthony Robinson II, Missouri
Others receiving votes: Felix Okpara, Tennessee; Alex Condon, Florida; Keyshawn Hall, Auburn.
Poll participants: Andrew Abadie, Gainesville Sun; Ryan Black, Courier-Journal; CL Brown, Courier-Journal; Adam Cole, Motgomery Advertiser; Gentry Estes, The Tennessean; Jackson Fuller, Southwest Times Record; Callum McAndrew, Columbia Daily Tribune; Sam Sklar, Clarion Ledger; Emilee Smarr, Tuscaloosa News; Colton Sulley, The Oklahoman; Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald; Mike Wilson, Knoxville News Sentinel.
