Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Mike White used the term "clean slate" a few times when discussing his team's start to the Southeastern Conference season, but it just as well could have been used by incoming South Carolina coach Frank Martin or any of the other dozen coaches in the league. 

By the time the Gators (8-4, 0-0) and Gamecocks (5-7, 0-0) drop the flag on their league seasons Saturday night at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, six other SEC teams will have opened their conference runs, as well. Two more will play Saturday night, three more will fall in line Tuesday night, and the last Wednesday night. 

Last season, the SEC put a record eight teams in the NCAA Tournament in arguably its most competitive three months on record. Two teams, Tennessee and Auburn, tied for the 2018 regular season title and a third, Kentucky, won the postseason tournament. Another, Texas A&M, reached the Sweet 16 by knocking out defending national champion North Carolina. 

Now, here we go again.

Below is a quick-read primer — a snapshot, if you will — on where things stand to date, based on non-conference results and some preseason projection, outside of Gator Nation heading into the most pivotal three months of the 2018-19 campaign. 

All superlatives, of course, are subject to change. 


FIVE BEST TEAMS   * Tennessee — The defending league co-champ Volunteers (11-1) are ranked third, behind only Duke and Michigan, and last month beat then-No. 1 Gonzaga (which had beaten Duke) on a neutral floor. The Vols have the SEC's top two scorers (read on), an excellent coach in Rick Barnes and will play as hard day in and night out as any team in the country. UT's lone loss came in overtime to then second-ranked Kansas. 

* Auburn — These defending co-champs check in at No. 12., having spent six weeks in the top 10. The Tigers (11-2) lost to Duke by six, and at North Carolina State the week before Christmas, but have wins over Xavier and Arizona, an offense that can flat-out score, and return two players (6-10, 260-pound center Austin Wiley and 6-7, 230-pound junior forward Danjel Purifoy) from season-long suspensions of a year ago.

* Mississippi State — The Bulldogs are 12-1, have a bunch of players back from a team that won 25 games and reached the NIT semifinals last season. They're led by the "Brothers Weatherspoon," senior swingman Quinndary and sophomore point guard Nick, but juniors Lamar Peters and Tyson Carter have a lot of basketball under their belts, and 6-10, 225-pound senior forward Aric Holman (12.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg) will be in the NBA next season. They're really solid at every position.

* Kentucky — The Wildcats (10-2), with yet another marquee class of fab freshmen, will have their usual growing pains, some of which were on display in an embarrassing 118-84 shellacking to open the season against Duke (and all its fab freshmen). But UK and Coach John Calipari always seem to figure things out and since a meltdown loss against Seton Hall on Dec. 8 the Cats have won consecutive games against Utah, No. 9 North Carolina, and on the road against rival Louisville. 

* LSU — The Tigers (10-3) have a bunch of good, young players, plus a potential all-league guard in Tremont Waters who's off to something of a slow start (just 30 percent from the 3-point line) on the scoring front. They took Florida State to overtime and crushed then-unbeaten Furman two weeks ago. 


FIVE BEST PLAYERS  Grant Williams (Tennessee)— Last season, he joined Hall of Famer Bernard King as the only players in Vols history to be named SEC Player of the Year. The 6-foot-7, 241-pounder plays much taller than his height and is an absolute force in the paint. He leads the league in scoring (20.1 ppg), is second in field-goal percentage (.590), fifth in rebounding (8.3 pg) and eighth in free-throw percentage (.795). 

Admiral Schofield (Tennessee) — Speaking of playing bigger than his size (6-5, 240), there may not be a funner player to watch in the league. He's charismatic on and off the floor, with his in-game flair going national in the Gonzaga game when he made five straight 3-pointers in the final minutes to lead the upset. The "Admiral" is at 18.2 points per game, grabs 6.0 rebounds, makes 51.5 percent of his shots and is fourth in the conference in 3-point shooting at 43.5 percent. He's also a warrior, as in third in the SEC in minutes per game (32.3). 

Daniel Gafford (Arkansas) — The Razorbacks' 6-10, 230-pound center ranks third in the SEC scoring (17.5 ppg), second in rebounding (9.3 pg), first in field-goal percentage (.661), second in blocked shots (2.5 pg) and is tied for fifth in offensive rebounds per game (2.8). Anyone remember what he did to the Gators late in the 2018 SEC Tournament at St. Louis (besides going for 16 points and 12 boards)? I do. Had a second-row seat for the carnage, in fact (see below). 



Quinndary Weatherspoon (Mississippi State) — He finished 14th in the SEC in scoring a year ago at 14.4 points per game and is up to 17.3 this season, while making nearly 49 percent of his shots. He also gets to the free-throw line (his 63 attempts are second only to Williams' 88) and goes 86.7 percent when there (that's second in conference). Weatherspoon is not a great rebounder, but he's good enough (5.2 pg), and last season averaged better than three assists per game (including a career-best 10 in one outing), showing he's about the right things.

Bryce Brown (Auburn)— The 6-3, 198-pound guard was the Tigers' best player last season in a year he averaged nearly 16 points and bombed in 108 makes from the 3-point line at better than 38 percent. Now a senior, Brown is scoring at about the same clip (15.3 ppg) on a team that has a bunch of scorers, both inside and out. 


NEW COACHES  Tom Crean (Georgia) — He replaced Mark Fox, who was fired after going 18-15 in his ninth season, reaching just two NCAA tournaments, and posting a losing overall record in SEC play (57-59). Crean took last season off to do some TV, but came to Athens with an all-time record of 161-146 and three conference titles in head-coaching stops at Marquette (1999-08), which with Dwayne Wade reached the Final Four in 2003, and Indiana (2008-17). The Bulldogs are off to an 8-4 start. They got blown out early in the season by Georgia State, but lost by just two to Arizona State. 

Kermit Davis (Ole Miss) — One of the most respected mid-major coaches in the country, Davis, a native of Leakesville, Miss., returned to his home state after an incredible run of success at Middle Tennessee State, where over 16 seasons he went 332-188, reached the NCAA Tournament four of the last six seasons, and in 2016 shocked Michigan State in a historic 15-seed vs. 2-seed takedown. His last six teams at Middle averaged 25.6 wins a season. Andy Kennedy, fired midseason last year, didn't leave Davis much in Oxford, but the Rebels are 10-2 to date, with losses to Butler and Cincinnati, but wins over Baylor and Middle Tennessee. 


MOST IMPROVED PLAYER  (Tie) Rayshaun Hammonds and Nicolas Claxton (Georgia) — With opportunity, of course, comes a better chance for production, but you also have to capitalize — and with first-team All-SEC forward Yante Maten and Juwan Parker gone, the Bulldogs needed production from somewhere. Hammonds, a 6-8 forward, started most of the 2017-18 season, but under Crean is flourishing in a more featured role. He's scoring 15.0 points per game, shooting 54.7 percent from the floor, 83 percent from the free-throw line and grabbing 6.9 rebounds. Claxton, the sophomore and 6-10 son of former UGA 7-footer and NBA player Charles Claxton, currently leads the SEC in rebounding at 10.2 a game. 


FIVE FRESH(MEN) FACES  Isaiah Joe (Arkansas) — He's a lanky 6-5, 167-pound guard, but he'll start the conference season as its No. 7 scoring leader at 15.8 points per game and second in the league in 3-point shooting at 45.5 percent.

Keldon Johnson (Kentucky) — The 6-6, 215-pound wing and 2018 McDonald's All-American is scoring at 16.4 points per game, but has averaged 20.0 in UK's current three-game winning streak. Four games back, Johnson had only 10 points in the loss to Seton Hall, but threw in a half court shot to send the game into overtime. Of interest: Was a prep teammate (but not relation) to UF freshman forward Keyontae Johnson at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy.

Naz Reid (LSU) — He's a 6-10, 250-pound manchild and McDonald's All-American from New Jersey, who is averaging 12.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the floor. Reid scored 29 points against UNC-Greensboro. 

Simisola Shittu (Vanderbilt) — He's 6-10, 240 and one of two McDonald's honorees on the Vandy roster. Shittu opened his career with a pair of double-doubles against Winthrop and Southern Cal and now sits 14th in the league in scoring (14.4 ppg) and seventh in rebounding (7.8 pg), while shooting 51.6 percent from the field. 

Emmitt Williams (LSU) — His numbers aren't jaw-dropping (8.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg), but some of the plays he makes have been and will be. Williams, who led Orlando Oak Ridge to the Class 9A state championship as a senior last year, was a dunking machine at the McDonald's game last spring and will be so throughout his rookie (and, no doubt, only) season with the Tigers. 


BEST GRAD TRANSFER 
Reid Travis (Kentucky) — Seeing an actual senior at Kentucky's traditional "Senior Day" celebration March 9 (against Florida, by the way) will be something akin to seeing Sasquatch for Big Blue Nation. The 6-8, 238-pound power forward was a two-time, first-team All Pac-12 selection at Stanford, where he became just the third player in school history to score at least 1,400 points and grab at least 700 rebounds. As a redshirt junior last season, Travis averaged 19.5 points and 8.9 rebounds. His veteran savvy will provide a different element to the one-and-done culture at Kentucky. 


FIVE BEST PRO PROSPECTS  Darius Garland (Vanderbilt) — You won't see the Commodores' 6-2 homegrown Nashville guard this season after he suffered a season-ending knee injury Nov. 23 against Kent State. You will see him in the lottery next June. In five games in scored 16.8 per and shot nearly 48 percent from the 3-point line. 

Jontay Porter (Missouri) — And you won't see the talented 6-11, 240-pound brother of Michael Porter for the Tigers, either. He blew out his knee during the preseason, but (like Garland) shows up in mock drafts everywhere. Obviously, a devastating loss for the Tigers and a very similar situation to Michael last year, who was the nation's No. 1 overall prospect, but sat out the season's first 30 games with a back injury before making his collegiate debut in the SEC Tournament. That Porter, despite just two games on his college resume, was drafted in the first round by Denver. 

Keldon Johnson (Kentucky) — All but sure to go in the top 10. 

Daniel Gafford (Arkansas) — Fringe lottery guy, but opting to return for his sophomore season figures to help his overall development. 

P.J. Washington (Kentucky) — UK's 6-8, 230-pound power forward mostly underachieved as a freshman considered a slam-dunk one-and-done. Good for him, though, for making the decision to come back and work on his all-around game. He's at 12.6 points, hitting 52.5 percent from the floor and is the league's No. 4 rebounder at 8.4 per game.