Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida basketball: Gators picked second, Blackshear tabbed Player of the Year in SEC

By Paul Casanova

DES MOINES, IOWA - MARCH 23: The Florida Gators band performs against the Michigan Wolverines during the second half in the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 23, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IOWA - MARCH 23: The Florida Gators band performs against the Michigan Wolverines during the second half in the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 23, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

On Tuesday, the Southeastern Conference media announced their predictions for the upcoming season and Florida basketball was certainly part of the mix.

SEC and national media made their preseason selections this week and Florida basketball is right there at the top.

The Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team was picked to finish first in the SEC.  Florida transfer Kerry Blackshear was the preseason pick for Player of the Year.

This is the ninth straight year that the Wildcats were predicted to win the SEC. The Cats also had three players — one on the first team, Ashton Hagans and two other players on the second team — named All-SEC, Tyrese Maxey and EJ Montgomery.

But right behind the Cats is the Florida basketball team, which was picked to finish second. This is going to be an exciting year for the Gators.

They received a nice addition when the most coveted transfer in the country, Kerry Blackshear decided to transfer to UF. He was a great player for Virginia Tech averaging 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 103 games for VT.

He helped lead them to two Big Dance appearances and comes in looking to get back with Florida. Florida will have a strong team as Blackshear is joined by his teammate Andrew Nembhard, who made the SEC second team.

Andrew spent the summer playing for Canada as it competed for the FIBA World Cup. He starred in Canada’s 90-70 upset of Australia before the World Cup tipped off, with 12 points and 10 rebounds and with four assists.

Florida Basketball has a solid chance of getting deep into the tournament this year. Nembhard worked alongside NBA players during that time and it should help the Gators this year.

The SEC’s first team went as follows; Florida’s Kerry Blackshear, Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards, Mississippi’s Breein Tyree, Mississippi State’s Reggie Perry, and Kentucky’s Ashton Hagans.

The second team; Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey, E.J Montgomery, Alabama’s Kira Lewis, Arkansas’ Isaiah Joe, Florida’s Andrew Nembhard, LSU’s Skylar Mays, and Tennessee’s Lamonte Turner.

The SEC team predictions:

  1. Kentucky
  2. Florida
  3. LSU
  4. Auburn
  5. Tennessee
  6. Alabama
  7. Mississippi State
  8. Ole Miss
  9. Georgia
  10. South Carolina
  11. Arkansas
  12. Texas A&M
  13. Missouri
  14. Vanderbilt

Florida basketball finished 20-16 last season and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament. There, they beat Nevada in the first round but fell to Michigan in the second round.

Next. Gators land 4-star recruit Niels Lane. dark

The Gators open the 2019-20 season against North Florida at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Home/Florida Gators Basketball