SEC Basketball West Division Season Preview and Predictions

This is part II of our SEC Basketball previews and predictions for the 2008-09 season. Part I covered the West Division earlier this week.

SEC West

Arkansas is rebuilding this year and Ole Miss came on strong. Our prediction for this season is the Rebels will lead the way over the remainder of the competition in the West with LSU and Auburn being a close second and third place.

1 - Ole Miss Rebels

Head Coach: Andy Kennedy, is 45-24 in two seasons at Ole Miss and 66-37 in three seasons as a college head coach.

The Team: Ole Miss won 24 games for only the second time in school history last year. Warren came on strong as the point guard but had a very experienced front court to back him up.

This Season: Look for Coach Kennedy to work on his front court in the first month of the season to prep the team for conference play. Expect a few hiccups early, but for the Rebels to lead the way in the West once conference play starts.

2 - LSU Tigers

Head Coach: Trent Johnson in his first season at LSU, 159-121 in nine seasons as a college head coach.

The Team: Anthony Randolph left for the NBA, but Marcus Thorton (19.6ppg) is the league's returning lead scorer. The Tigers also return Long and Johnson who can score with Tasmin Mitchell returning from injury.

The Season: Last season the Tigers were 13-18 and very weak at the point. Look for the team to perform at a much higher level this season with Tasmin Mitchell back from injury. We picked LSU over Auburn which could be a stretch, but believe with Randolph and Mitchell that the Tigers will be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC this season!

3 - Auburn Tigers

Coach: Jeff Lebo is 57-64 in four seasons at Auburn and 172-127 in 10 seasons as a college head coach.

The Team: Auburn returns Korvotney Barger from injury joining returning guards DeWayne Reed, Quantez Robertson, and Rasheem Barrett. Auburn has several Junior College transfers that the team will need big contributions from this season: Nr 2 guard Tay Waller, Johnnie Lett, and Francis Alhe. The unplanned loss of forward Josh Dollard (led the team in scoring and rebounding in 2006-07) will hurt unless the JC transfers pick up the slack early.

The Season: If the Junior College transfers perform at the SEC basketball level, Auburn will have a strong chance to improve on last seasons 14-16, 4-12 record. Regardless, there is enough talent resident on the team that expect the Tigers to upset a few teams. Ranking the Tigers to finish third in the West is more indicative of a lack of depth in the West division than proven strength in the team at this point of the season.

4 - Alabama Crimson Tide

Coach: Mark Gottfried is 198-124 in 10 seasons at Alabama and 266-148 in 13 seasons as a college head coach.

The Team: Incoming JaMychal Green will be expected to take up the slack for departed Richard Hendrix. Point guard Ronald Steele is back after suffering a number of injuries the last two years and Freshman Tony Mitchell is expected to contribute for the Tide to be successful this season.

The Season: Coach Gottfried is under a lot of pressure to make the NCAA tournament this season. If Steel can stay healthy and Green has an impact year, Bama could have a shot to finish much higher in the division. There are just too many questions at this point with the team to predict a much higher finish than fourth.

5 - Mississippi State Bulldogs

Coach: Rick Stansbury, 208-115 in 10 seasons at Mississippi State and as a college head coach.

Players: Jamont Gordon, Charles Gordon, and Ben Hansbrough have left the team that won the Western Division last season and almost defeated Memphis in the NCAA Tournament! Dee Bost is expected to significantly contribute and proven scorer Barry Stewart will be seeing a lot of minutes this season along with NCAA shot block leader, Jarvis Varnado.

The Season: Most State fans are hopping Varnado learned how to score in the offseason after only averaging 7.9 ppg last year. There are 11 freshmen and sophomores on this year's squad. State may surge later in the season once the new players learn how to compete in the SEC.

6 - Arkansas Razorbacks

Coach:John Pelphrey, 23-12 in one season at Arkansas, 103-79 in six seasons as a college head coach.

The Team: Arkansas lost five seniors from last year's team in addition to Patrick Beverly. Names to look out for this season are freshman Rotnei Clark, veterans Stefan Welsh and Michael Washington, and redshirt freshman Michael Sanchez.

The Season: Arkansas is significantly rebuilding this year. The Razorback's performance will be significantly based on how well Pelphrey can lead an inexperienced team through the SEC schedule.

Summary

That's it. The SEC West definitely appears to be a bit weaker than the East in this year's SEC Basketball play. A lot of the West's team's performance is going to be based on the freshmen player's acclimating to NCAA college basketball. It will definitely be worth revisiting conference predictions once we see the teams play out the pre-January nonconference schedules!