College basketball season starts Monday, and if you haven’t been paying attention (we’re looking at you, SEC football fan who turns basketball on come February), the SEC might have the best league in the sport in 2024-25.

The SEC has 9 teams ranked in the AP Top 25 and a KenPom conference ranking of No. 1, just ahead of the Big 12, long the best conference in this sport. The SEC has never finished  a season first in KenPom, but with a genuine national championship favorite in Alabama, multiple teams that could make Final Four runs, and a chance at a league record 9 or 10 NCAA Tournament bids, the SEC has a legitimate chance to rule the hoops world this season as it has football fields for decades.

Here are 10 burning questions for the SEC in 2024-25.

1. Can Alabama return to the Final Four and hang a championship banner?

Alabama reached the program’s first Final Four last season behind Nate Oats’ innovative offense and the brilliant Mark Sears, a college hoops version of Steph Curry who has insane range and a clutch gene.

The Consensus All-American and preseason SEC Player of the Year, Sears is just one cog in the nation’s best backcourt, which includes sharpshooters Chris Youngblood and Latrell Wrightsell as well as talented freshman Labaron Philon, who has turned heads in camp. Houston Mallette adds toughness on the wing and should fill the void left behind by the glue guy Aaron Estrada, who graduated.

Standing in front of Alabama’s national title hopes is one question: Can they guard?

A season ago, they could not, costing them an SEC title and perhaps a national title. The Tide finished outside the top 100 in defensive efficiency, per KenPom, the 2nd-worst finish for an Oats team at Alabama.

To remedy this, Alabama made 2 significant moves.

First, they hired Brian Adams to coordinate the defense. A defensive savant who coordinated a NBA title winning defense with the Celtics, Adams will fix the scheme that made Alabama one of the worst ball screen defenses (13th) in the SEC a season ago.

Second, they brought in one of the nation’s best rim protecting bigs in Clifford Omoruyi. The Rutgers transfer will allow versatile forward Grant Nelson move away from the basket and, Oats hopes, avoid the foul trouble that plagued him in more physical games a season ago. It also should help Alabama’s guards focus more on perimeter defense, content to know a rim protector behind them reduces their help obligations.

If it all comes together, this is the best team in the country and the Crimson Tide will be the last team standing in San Antonio this April — giving the SEC its first national champion since Kentucky in 2012.

2. John Calipari is at Arkansas now. Will it be the rebirth he needs?

Things grew stale for John Calipari in his final 5 seasons in Lexington.

The Wildcats won the SEC title just once (2019-2020) and won just 1 NCAA Tournament contest in that 5-year stretch.

That led to Calipari’s departure from Big Blue to Arkansas last spring.

The Hall-0f-Famer took the lion’s share of his best Kentucky players and recruits with him to Fayetteville, where he’ll lead 1 of the 2 SEC programs not named Kentucky to win a national basketball championship (not counting Texas, which won a pre-integration title in the era before the NCAA Tournament).

As was the case at Kentucky, Calipari’s first Arkansas team won’t lack talent. Adou Thiero is a budding star, former top-10 recruit DJ Wagner is healthy after injuries limited his freshman season at Kentucky, and FAU transfer Johnell Davis might be the most natural scorer in the SEC not named Mark Sears. Throw in the usual Cal electric freshman, from point guard Boogie Fland to walking mismatch Karter Knox and you see why there could be plenty of Woo Pigs going around come March.

The question, as increasingly was the case for Cal’s teams at Kentucky, is consistency. Early scrimmages were a yellow flag: a riveting, dominant win over a national title contender in Kansas followed by an ugly loss to a TCU team figured to be rebuilding this season.

If the Hogs find consistency, this will be a fun team, and the fresh start Calipari needed.

3. Will Kentucky thrive after the change it needed?

Kentucky needed a change and turned to a national championship winning alum, Mark Pope.

It’s hard to imagine a starker contrast from a prior coach than the gulf between Calipari and Pope.

Calipari’s dribble-drive offense was stale and out-0f-touch with modern basketball.

Pope’s 5-out motion offense is an homage to modern basketball, an efficiency monster that will consistently help Kentucky generate nice shots.

Pope’s first team in Lexington lacks a lottery pick, but it might be the most intriguing team in the league.

Jaxson Robinson is a maestro who understands Pope’s offense. Lamont Butler is one of the best defenders in the sport with a penchant for burying the huge shot.

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There is frontcourt depth, led by Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr, a perfect 5-out big, and Amari Williams, one of the nation’s best rebounders and interior defenders. There’s sharpshooters, including Koby Brea, who could shoot 45% from deep.

A fun team where the sum of all parts may be greater than any individual talents? That’s different in Lexington.

4. A 10-bid league?

We almost asked if 11 was possible.

That’s how deep the SEC will be in 2024-25.

That’s what happens when you build a league with superstars like Sears and Auburn’s Johni Broome and a collection of Hall of Fame and future Hall of Fame coaches.

Along with Alabama, at least Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Texas A&M feel like NCAA Tournament locks.  Arkansas, Texas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas and Georgia should be bubble teams, as will Lamont Paris’ South Carolina, which feels underrated yet again after a top-5 league finish last season.

It will be a busy Selection Sunday, and 10 bids seems a safe bet, with 11 possible.

5. Who rises up to challenge Alabama for the SEC championship?

Alabama is in its own tier as the season begins, but you could make an argument for 10 teams to finish 2nd and at least 5 (Texas A&M, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida and Auburn) to feel like they could win the SEC Championship with a break or two. Don’t count out Texas, either, especially if freshman Tre Johnson is “as advertised” and a backcourt full of ball-dominant guards finds a way to co-exist.

The smartest money for a non-Alabama champion lies with the 2 best-coached teams led by elite seniors.

The Volunteers lose SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht, but they will guard as well as anyone in the country and could win another SEC title if they find complementary scoring for Zakai Zeigler, the All-SEC mainstay who will shoulder a heavier load in 2024-25. Plus, who counts out a Rick Barnes-coached team in regular-season basketball?

Auburn has Broome, who could win the Wooden Award as the nation’s best player. He’s that good. Bruce Pearl will need better guard play than he got in 2023-24, but even that guard-starved group won the SEC Tournament behind Broome and a pair of nasty three and d wings in Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara, who both return. If JP Pegues or Miles Kelly can consistently score, Auburn will challenge for a league title.

6. Is there a sleeper who could finish top 5?

Georgia, the SEC’s youngest team, will also be one of the most talented.

Asa Newell, a 5-star forward who can guard 5 spots, was 1 of 4 players who received SEC Player of the Year votes at SEC Media Days.

Georgia has future pros at guard in Silas Demary and Blue Cain. Tyrin Lawrence, who received preseason All-SEC accolades a year ago, adds depth. Somto Cyril, who flipped from Kentucky, is 1 of 4 top-100 recruits for Georgia, and a testament to just how much talent there is in Athens.

Mike White enters year 3 with a pair of NIT trips. The veteran head coach has never had a losing season, but he’s also never truly maxed out a team. Could this Georgia team break the latter trend?

Georgia has not won a NCAA Tournament game since the George W. Bush administration. If this team can score consistently, that will change in 2025.

7. Who is the player other than Mark Sears most likely to win SEC Player of the Year?

Rightfully, Johni Broome will be the answer for many, but keep an eye on Florida senior Walter Clayton Jr.

Remember, Clayton Jr. outplayed Sears twice in 2 Florida routs of Alabama a season ago, including a 23-point, 5-assist performance in a 102-88 win over the Crimson Tide in the SEC Tournament. Clayton Jr. can score at all 3 levels and plays with the physicality you’d expect from a guard who was also a highly coveted football recruit.

Clayton Jr. shot 37% from beyond the arc on high volume last season, and he drew fouls at a strong rate of 4.3 per 40 minutes. He showed his big game chops in Florida’s win at Rupp Arena, the Gators’ run to the SEC Tournament Championship game, and when he scored 16 straight points down the stretch to nearly lead the Gators past Colorado in what was the best game of the NCAA Tournament’s first round. He’s the best Florida guard since Scottie Wilbekin won SEC Player of the Year in 2014, and it wouldn’t be stunning if he won SEC Player of the Year honors.

8. But Johni Broome could win the Wooden Award, right?

He really could.

The nation’s 3rd-most efficient player in 2023-24, per KenPom, Broome does everything. He rebounds at a prolific rate on both ends. His 9.3 block rate is among the best of any returning players in the country. He can shoot the 3 — making it at a 35% clip. He gets to the free-throw line at a proficient rate. His assist rate is the best among returning SEC bigs.

A tremendous leader and person off the floor, Broome is everything you’d want in a basketball player. If he swept SEC Player of the Year and Wooden Award honors, it would be the least surprising thing ever. The real debate is where he ranks in the canon of best Auburn basketball players of all time.

9. Will Ole Miss break through in Year 2 under Chris Beard?

History instructs us that Chris Beard’s programs take big jumps in Year 2. Angelo State improved by 9 wins. Texas Tech went from Big 12 afterthought to a 27-win, Elite-8 team. Beard was 7-1 and expected to contend for the Big 12 title before his summary dismissal from Texas early in Year 2. This upward trend could continue in Oxford.

The Rebels return one of the SEC’s best guards in Matthew Murrell and a do-everything glue guy in Jaemyn Brakefield. Sean Pedulla (16.4 ppg, 4.6 apg at Virginia Tech) transfers in to run the point and while he’s turnover prone, he can be electric when he takes care of the ball. Jaylen Murray is one of the best catch and shoot guys in the SEC. The Rebs, in other words, will score.

Can they guard? A season ago, Ole Miss finished 141st in KenPom defensive efficiency, victimized by a lack of size that made it hard to guard talented posts and tough to rebound. Beard thinks Top-50 freshman John Bol and big man Malik Dia will help fix this issue, giving the Rebels rim protecting talent and rebounding. Of course, he thought he’d get more from Jamarion Sharp and Moussa Cisse last season, but the latter forgot how to rebound and Sharp was overwhelmed by the SEC’s athleticism.

Still, history says it gets fixed, which makes Ole Miss, ranked No. 24 in the preseason, a genuine threat to play deep into March.

10. How many SEC teams will make the Sweet 16?

Alabama seems upset proof, given their prolific scoring and expected improvements on defense.

Every other SEC team has flaws that could prevent them from winning the 2 games required to make a Sweet 16.

Kentucky could miss shots. Florida could lack frontcourt scoring. Ole Miss might not guard. Arkansas may lack depth. Tennessee might not have enough offensively. Auburn could lack the guard play. Texas is talented but the roster might not mesh. South Carolina needs to be more than Collin Murray-Boyles. Texas A&M needs to shoot better than 29% from 3. Miss State will miss Tolu Smith terribly.

A good maxim? Deep and talented guard play tends to win in March.

That favors the Gators, with Alijah Martin and Clayton Jr., Kentucky’s talented shooters and Lamont Butler, a proven winner, and Tennessee, which has Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, a tenacious pair of ball-hounds who have helped Tennessee play on the 2nd weekend in consecutive seasons. It also gives Arkansas, with Johnell Davis, Boogie Fland and DJ Wagner, a chance to do what Calipari hasn’t done this decade and coach in the Sweet 16. It will hurt Auburn, which has significant questions at point guard for the second consecutive season.

SDS expects Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky to join Alabama as 1 of 5 SEC programs in the Sweet 16.