The SEC is going to be a wild battle next season...for second place.
Kentucky just made a big move, getting Milan Momcilovic out of the transfer portal and that's pretty nice for the Wildcats. Bringing in a big gun like that should give Mark Pope a chance to be a top-four SEC team next year. They probably still aren't as good as Tennessee or Arkansas, but something could happen.Â
However, the bottom line is all those teams are still looking up at the Gators.
The balance of power in the SEC starts in Gainesville
Coming off an amazing championship run in 2025, the Gators had to deal with some growing pains in the first half of the season before looking like world beaters for the final 15 games. The surge came to a shocking and disappointing halt with the loss to Iowa in the second-round of the NCAA tournament.
But that disappointment only served to motivate Todd Golden and his players to do something amazing. All-SEC forward Alex Condon was the first to decide not to test the waters in the NBA Draft and return for his senior year. Then the big shocker came when All-American Thomas Haugh, who was a fringe lottery pick in the upcoming draft, decided to come back to school after Florida made him an offer he could not refuse. The final hold out was Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Rueben Chinyelu, who would've likely been a second-round pick in the draft and went through the combine before opting to return to Gainesville.
The return of the "big three" alone would've been enough to make the Gators the preseason No. 1 team in the country. No one has the returning experience and success that Florida will have going into next season. But Golden wasn't done building the roster. He tapped into the European prospect pool to grab Domen Petrovic, a stretch forward from Slovenia and Lithuanian big Arturas Butajevas, who averaged nearly 14 points per game for his home country in the FIBA U18 Eurobasket tournament. Add in the return of Denzel Aberdeen, who spent a year at Kentucky after his first stint at Florida, along with returning starter Boogie Fland and this squad is ready for all comers.
Who can really challenge the Gators in the SEC?
Tennessee would have to be considered the primary challenge and the other conference team that should be hanging out inside the top-10 all season. Think what you want of the Vols, but getting Juke Harris out of the portal is big and beating out Michigan for the former Wake Forest guard probably kept the Wolverines from writing a ticket for another Final Four appearance. Otherwise, Rick Barnes has a nice thing going on in Knoxville.
Texas and Arkansas will be difficult as well. The Longhorns got some dudes returning, like big man Matas Vokietaitis, and they added some talent from the portal with Isaiah Johnson, who averaged 17 points per game at Colorado, and David Punch, who averaged over 14 PPG with TCU. And freshman guard Austin Goosby might be a lottery pick.
The Razorbacks will be younger than Florida or Texas, but Calipari has a sick recruiting class with Jordan Smith and two wings that were top-20 national recruits, Abdou Toure and JaShawn Andrews. Arkansas will take some lumps early, but they might be the team to avoid by late February.Â
But the Gators are taking no prisoners this season and anything short of the Final Four would be considered a complete bust.Â
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