SEC Basketball 2024-25 Season Preview (ft. Jon Rothstein)

all right guys as promised we do welcome in CBS sports college basketball Insider John rosin who as we know just like Mick Foley at the WWF King of the Ring 1998 in stetson's first round game against Yukon you have been surviving in advancing this summer John as the parent of a one-year-old give us an update how's it going it's like Stallone in Rambo 2 it's day the day guys you know I don't know if you guys are parents or fathers but you know you think every single day that you know you're just going to get to the finish line and then press a reset and it's going to get easier but that is not the case our daughter is great you know life has never been better with her in it but you know you want to do research on obviously a mid- major team you want to think about how many SEC teams can be in a position to get at large births to the NCAA tournament if she needs a diaper change that task needs to be put on hold for a couple minutes yes John as as a father of a two-year-old let me tell you uh it it's even more chaotic at times there you um but there we go all right let's talk about these SEC teams because obviously starting with Alabama you know I mean we talked about it they make the final four run last year um they get Sears back they get Nelson back they get more these you know dynamic pieces back in place and then oh by the way they had Big Cliff you know they add Chris Young Blood and you know Reed and everyone um you know your expectations just for this Alabama team heading into this season I you know for a lot of us we've talked about if you're going to have the biggest threat to Yukon for the three Pat outside of just roster subtractions for the Huskies the tide may be the team to do it yeah I don't think that there's any question that this should be the most anticipated season in the history of Alabama's basketball program and look I have been a big advocate of this and I think it's the utmost truth when you look at the teams that went the furthest in the NCAA tournament last year Yukon and Purdue returning Personnel is significant more important than incoming Personnel when you look at the teams that have the highest success in college basketball you referenced it Mark Sears is back for Alabama you referenced it Grant Nelson is back for Alabama but on top of that Alabama also returns jiren Stevenson who as we remember was integral in that Elite 8 win over Clemson the Crimson tie probably don't go to the final four without him they also return Latrell ritel who when he scored in double figure last year Alabama was a perfect 10 and0 so I think first you need to look at what's returning you have to like what's returning if you're thinking about the team in Tuscaloosa and then I also think you make a great point in terms of referencing Big Cliff amorey from Ruckers because Alabama's Rim protection was its biggest flaw last year and I've talked to Nate oats about this I firmly believe that the team that NATO has had in 2021 with herb Jones and John Petty and the team he had in 2023 with Brandon Miller were better teams than last year's team that went to the final four but last year's team broke through I mean Clif Amore last year blocked 93 shots at ruter that is more than half of what Alabama blocked as a team last season so Rim protection is obviously going to go up in a major way and that's one of the primary reasons why Alabama now is in position in my opinion to go back to a final four and this time win a National Championship yeah John one thing that is very important for National Championship caliber teams are under the radar guys that we potentially did not see coming in the preseason one of my favorite series from your Twitter is you're bu stock now you're under the radar yeah who is your SEC maybe you can C categorize him as a My Guy type of buy stock NOW player that SEC fans should uh have on their Radars going into the season so you're saying player now you're not saying team player player now do you want this guy to be a transfer do you want him to be in the program the year prior like how are you you know separating this because there's a lot of layers to the way I kind of evaluate titles in the preseason I don't want to go off brand here would never want that let's go with a returning guy maybe a breakout uh someone that could be a familiar name maybe not but a guy on an SEC Rock that was here last year that we're going to be seeing big things from this year Well I'm going to tie this into my SEC sleeper pick because I think Georgia under Mike White is a sneaky good team this year and that's obviously directly related to what I think is going to be a big time year for Silas Demery I look at what Georgia brings back from a team that again Advance pretty far in the NIT you have Silas demory back who I think eventually will morph into an all SEC caliber guard blue Kane is also back now that's obviously the returning pieces I also though look at what Georgia did recruiting wise Tyron Lawrence is a proven power conference starter he comes over for Vanderbilt guys you know in the NCAA tournament I was fortunate enough to work work the first four and then I worked the Memphis Regional where Clemson was or the Memphis first round site where Clem where Clemson was and RJ Godfrey was a part of that Clemson run to the lead eight great utility player can play multiple positions can defend multiple positions he's a potential starter for Georgia then on top of that you add a senu one of the best high school players in the country you add stto suril who again as we know was supposed to play for John caliper at Kentucky I think if you really want to get in the weeds right here I think Georgia is a sneaky good team in the SEC I think if you split the atom on Georgia the bulldogs look like a potential bubble team John you you went to the you know great transition because John Cal Perry was the next one I was going to ask you about and obviously everyone we've been talking about Arkansas a lot this off season and um really just the expectations for the roster that he's built there because you know John made the the joke at the initial he's like I went and just talk to my team I don't have a team but now he does have a team and it's a very talented team just as you would expect uh with sort of the way the roster shapes up what are your expectations I know you had Arkansas at number two um and your SEC offseason breakdown but you know just your overall expectations maybe potential strengths I mean that front court is loaded guard plays fantastic but you know what are some things you see with this team going into next season the biggest thing I look at is this you know when I started doing this guys 20 years ago John caliper was the head coach at Memphis and the backbone of his teams was really the DNA of teams that got after you defensively teams that made it uncomfortable for you to run their offense you know remember his teams at Memphis you know people want to talk about obviously Derrick Rose and Tyreek Evans but guys like Antonio Anderson Robert doer you know guys who weren't maybe the best players on the team but who really set the tone defensively everybody wants to talk about the players that came from Kentucky and I understand that you know via the portal everybody wants to talk about the Freshman but Kentucky's loss obviously I think was Arkansas's gain in the sense that John caliper quietly in my opinion in recruiting got back to the DNA of what we saw at Memphis by adding Jonas Adu and by adding you know John L Davis from Florida Atlantic now you are adding to proven defensive Commodities I mean I think you guys would agree Jonas you know Adu and his Rim protection was you know critical in Tennessee getting very close to the final four Nelly Davis is a player who again was a part of a Florida Atlantic team two years ago that got to a final four so with those players you're adding two guys who again are proven defensive minded players so if you think about those two guys as part of the fabric of your you know projected starting five and then you add Trevon brzil who again I think we all thought before his ACL injury a couple years ago was going to be an allconference caliber player and then you look at the makeup of that backourt with DJ Wagner a year older and you think about some of the other guys that are there I really want to pose this question to everybody out there how would we feel about Arkansas's roster if Arkansas wasn't painted across the front of the chest in Kentucky was yeah because I think people be talking about them if they're a top 10 team and I think they look like a top 10 team that's a fantastic point and John this might actually this question might tie in it might not um but I'm going the route of of coaching here now now a lot of times when a team's very good assistant coach leaves they fall off a little bit the next year you know we look back and we're like well he was kind of the defensive coordinator or Well he kind of constructed the whole offense type of deal this year now any incoming retaining assistant coaches someone that's left where you think man this is really going to impact this team in an XYZ fashion leading into this season from us you're talking from a tactical perspective yes well you know I I mentioned Georgia as a sleeper because you know we're really getting into the weeds but you think about the experience that ol Miss has that many fifth year players obviously led by Matthew Morell led by Jamon braefield who again started his college career at Duke and then you start to think about the fact that Mark Adams is now reunited with Chris beard they were the duo that was together when Texas Tech came within inches of winning a national title in 2019 this is to me another team that not a lot of people are talking about but a team that could be a major major player in the SEC because you start thinking now about the makeup of what they have going on they've definitely fortified their front line by adding you know Malik Dia male you know um male Brown Jones from UNCC Greensboro so they're in a situation where they are rectifying I think some of their deficiencies from last year and they also have as you know sha padulla who has tons of seasoning from his time at Virginia Tech where he had the ball in his hands and the makeup of the team as you know feels a lot like the Texas Tech team that went really really far in the 2019 NCAA tournament I'm not saying oh miss is going to go to the final four but I'm looking at this squad and I'm seeing the fact that you have an allconference caliber player back in Matthew Morell you also added Dre Davis from Sean Hall who's an older player who was a part of a team that won the postseason nit all misses a team guys that is built to go to the NCAA tournament and be nuisance to play once it gets there this is the interesting thing I think that's happening right now in the because we have a little bit of a passage at Kentucky with so many new faces at the flagship program in the conference you have all of these other teams that have older capable rosters that are going to my opinion make major major jumps you know I say I say to people all the time you might be in a situation where you could finish fourth or fifth in the SEC this year and make the final four yeah yeah that's the truth I mean again and that's what we've talked about like you know you can look at all the projections in terms of double digit NCAA tournament teams this year and it's not even just that like you could look at you know 12 teams in the in the league feel like that they're in a position to to go to the tournament and we're looking up in February right and you've still got that many teams that are right there in the mix but you know John to to follow up on that with Kentucky because obviously as you would expect we have probably the most Arkansas and Kentucky fans of any fan base in terms of basketball right now and you know just again I know it's so interesting to ask this question because we know every year now it's different to where you know you're rebuilding your roster everying season where it used to be what's the future of the program really it's what's the future of this year's roster um as you look at what Mark Pope put together you know Max and I have talked about the shooting that they brought in you know you bring in some experienced guards and Kirk CA and you know Jackson Robinson comes back and all that what what do you like about this Kentucky roster and what do you see as maybe some potential things um not necessarily weaknesses but what are your biggest questions maybe for this roster heading into the season the positive you hit on the shooting the skill level the spacing that obviously Kentucky can provide Mark Pope has proven to be a fantastic offensive coach but you're also looking at a team that has never played together before you're looking at a coach that has never had this caliber of job now he did a fantastic job in the Big 12 last year was one of the surprise teams but now he's stepping into the Gladiator pit as the head coach of Kentucky Kentucky is going to be in my opinion NCAA tournament team I don't know if it's a top 25 team yet to start next season and there's too much uncertainties and the weight class isn't just going to be a change for Mark Pope it's going to be a change for a number of players in this program Amari Williams from Drexel broke Twitter when he committed to Kentucky but he also played in the CIA last year and his team didn't make the NCAA tournament Lamont Butler from San Diego State the hero from the 2023 final four great veteran in the Mountain West now you're playing at rup Arina Kira played at Arizona in big games was on a West Virginia team last year that was one of the worst in power Conference basketball then you think about Kobe BR part of an NCAA tournament team at Dayton terrific terrific shooter now he's going from the Atlantic 10 to the SEC which could put 10 teams in the NCAA tournament and this is something guys I think that is a byproduct of the time we're living in years ago most of recruiting not to say that there were no transfers but most of recruiting was done via the high school route so what would happen was there would be an announcement at a press conference or whatever in October November somebody would sign a letter of intent and that would be it now because so much recruiting is done via the portal and because of social media we automatically think that just because there's volume that that team's going to be really really good that is not obviously a guarantee just because a team is getting commitments that it's going to lead to obviously a really successful season I think it's more of a byproduct of the time that we're in right now but think about the hurdles that are in front of Kentucky and I talked to people about this all the time just because a team wears a certain Name Across its chest does not mean that that team is automatically going to be one of the best in its League or the best in college basketball I mean you just look right now at what's going on in the SEC and this is off the top of my head right now Alabama consensus top five team consensus threat to win a National Championship Arkansas we've went through John caliper has not performed well in the NCAA tournament the last couple of years I think everybody would tell you that but he has had Kentucky consistently at the top of the SEC and to me his roster this season at Arkansas is comparable to what he's had at Kentucky Texas A&M nobody is really talking about I had them in the NCAA tournament last year against Houston way Taylor back Manny oasi back Solomon Washington back defensively like a queen on a chess board he can go anywhere then Henry Coleman's back who did they add in the transfer portal a starter at the five in farel Pay they've rectified that Anderson Garcia's back one of the best glue guys in college basketball they add CJ Wilshire they add Zurich Phelps from SMU that team is a Dark Horse that nobody's talking back about and what do we always talk about retention needs more attention they've retained you have to put Auburn in the equation at the top of the league with a first team All-American in Janai broom that's four teams Tennessee lost players but still has a Kai zegler still has jeriah MK still has enough did nicely in the portal by getting Felix oara to replace Jonas U Adu and Florida is also a team that's going to have an all SEC First Team Caliber candidate and Walter Clayton Jr that's six teams right there all Miss is seven I haven't even mentioned one of the biggest brands in the sport in Texas who again we're looking at it right now just based on Talent Jordan pope from Oregon State Trey Johnson five-star Prospect Tron Mark proven scorer Arthur Kuma a proven scorer Kaden shedric proven College big man that's eight teams that we just went to before Kentucky we haven't mentioned Chris Jans the dentist at a Michigan State we haven't mentioned Georgia and we haven't mentioned Lamont Paris and South Carolina that's a dozen out of the 16 SEC teams right now and I think you guys would agree all 12 of those teams will enter the season with legitimate hopes of making the NCAA tournament but you guys know as well as I do this is only September listen John and and you know you can even add Missouri who I know went over last year trust me everybody's given me a lot about that because I've been the Dennis Gates hype man for years worked out in year one I followed his career at Cleveland State talk to him a lot there but like even they bring in a mark Mitchell right and they've ramp their entire roster yeah like Perkins comes in so Caleb Gilla is back I mean it is Max go ahead I know you want to follow up on the Texas A&M love I'm sure because Max is the resident Texas A&M hype man this offseason he loves this team for Buzz Williams I I would say Texas A&M is a Darkhorse final four team dark oh my gosh Dark Horse final four team John we have a we have a weekly show and I I have a bold prediction that this is going to be Buzz's best team ever I have been saying over this offseason I don't think there's anyone out there that's higher on Texas A&M than me but I might have just met my maker here um so yeah I'm all I'm all in on I'm all in on the yaggies this year I absolutely love that team um and I'm G to stay on the topic of trying to make the tournament and I'm gonna kind of shift into a little bit of scheduling here okay um specifically non-conference because Alabama their nonconference last year was insan I don't even oh yes exactly and we're kind of seeing Auburn do that again now this year yeah um but we also saw now this is not SEC but a team like Iowa State just Crush teams by 75 points every game and their net looks great this is more of an opinionated question but with with how conferences are expanding tournaments are expanding and whatnot this non-conference is is as important as ever what's your take on the route teams are going in the non-conference nowadays I have always been an advocate that your NCAA tournament resume and Seed should be predicated on who did you play where did you play him did you win or lose and what I mean by that is marquee wins to me are always the backbone of a really strong resume and bad losses are obviously the detriment of a very poor resume now with that said I understand there are there's different metrics and different things that go into seeding teams and so on and so forth but I also have to and we all do we have to abide by what the selection committee is going to use in terms of the criteria in seeding the n tournament what Auburn is doing this year I've been doing this guys 20 years it's one of the craziest nonconference schedules that I've ever seen in my life I mean to think about that Auburn's going to play Ohio State and Atlanta going to play Purdue in Birmingham going to Duke as well and playing in Cameron indor Stadium as part of the ACC SEC challenge Auburn is also as we know going to be in the Maui Invitational which features an opening round game against Iowa State and then they're also going to be in a situation where if you win that game you're going to play North Carolina it is without question the best non-conference schedule in college basketball and frankly guys I don't even think it's close yeah I agree with you and again we've kind of talked about just the the scheduling the SEC and I think that's you know you go back to and I left out a game in the first weekend of the Season against Houston yeah right so I mean that the SEC since what 2016 the late Mike's live they they made a commitment they wanted to start playing tougher schedules and we've seen teams uh adopt that but Max I will let you finish this up John has been gracious with his time and I know Max you wanted to take this in a a food direction as the New York native that you are Max bar so I will let you have this before we wrap up with John I think this is the first time with the company I finally have a New York native on the show with me here so John there's going to be a boatload of Kentucky fans at storm in in New York City yeah uh at the weekend of December uh 21st for the Champions classic what is your recommendation for one a New York slice okay but then two a New York Deli because there is nothing like a solid New York bread and deli sandwich I mean a New York slice I would do casianos on uh I believe it's 55th and 3D you get a regular slice and then like a drunk Grandma slice it's a sicilian with like vodka sauce it's to die for and then if you're coming to New York City I would get on the subway and I would just go to Katz's to get the full New York experience love the roast turkey there Max are you satisfied yeah I was gonna follow up John are you ever traveling up to Albany this year you going to go through uh Upstate New York maybe on the way to Buffalo usually go to Syracuse uh every year but that I just fly up and back in the same day for that why what's on your mind Max grew up in in Binghamton New York try neries it's a it's a it's a it's a square slice a little bit a little bit doughy if you don't like that but the class of Bingington Pizza nerch yeah but the class of Bingington Pizza could be like you know the winner of the CBI that is also true yeah what I'm saying there's a nice Italian influence there John okay Pete up in New York I went to college in Ithaca so you kind of learn after a while Pizza in Upstate New York you should save your calories courland courland okay yep fair enough and on that note I'm just an SEC country in Nashville um so nville G love it guys uh John thanks so much we appreciate you joining us we've been wanting to do this for a while you've been gracious with your time uh hopefully we can catch up with you uh again down the road all right guys thank you very much thanks John