This article is part of our Conference Preview series.
This could be the SEC's year. The top of the conference is stocked with talented and experienced teams. Tennessee and Mississippi State bring back their starting lineups. Auburn suffered some personnel losses, but bring back a pair of suspended impact players (Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy). LSU has possibly the league's best player (Tremont Waters) and bring in an excellent recruiting class. Did someone say recruiting? Let's not forget Kentucky. Coach John Calipari brings in forward Reid Travis, his usual top first-year player class, and has some returning talent. It is going to be an incredible battle.
As shown below, most of the top fantasy stars will likely come from teams that do not figure into that battle. Even these squads will have something interesting to show in conference play. Could some of these players lead their teams to a surprising place in the SEC? It's possible, but the conference is going to be so competitive up and down the ladder that team quality may be more important than guys who accumulate counting stats. We, however, want and need those numbers. Let's see who will get them for us.
Center: Chris Silva, South Carolina Gamecocks
The 6-foot-9 senior made a nice leap in production in his first season as the go-to player for the Gamecocks. He provided 14.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 25.8 minutes. If he was so important to South Carolina, why did he play so sparingly? Silva still had a propensity to foul. He accrued
This could be the SEC's year. The top of the conference is stocked with talented and experienced teams. Tennessee and Mississippi State bring back their starting lineups. Auburn suffered some personnel losses, but bring back a pair of suspended impact players (Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy). LSU has possibly the league's best player (Tremont Waters) and bring in an excellent recruiting class. Did someone say recruiting? Let's not forget Kentucky. Coach John Calipari brings in forward Reid Travis, his usual top first-year player class, and has some returning talent. It is going to be an incredible battle.
As shown below, most of the top fantasy stars will likely come from teams that do not figure into that battle. Even these squads will have something interesting to show in conference play. Could some of these players lead their teams to a surprising place in the SEC? It's possible, but the conference is going to be so competitive up and down the ladder that team quality may be more important than guys who accumulate counting stats. We, however, want and need those numbers. Let's see who will get them for us.
Center: Chris Silva, South Carolina Gamecocks
The 6-foot-9 senior made a nice leap in production in his first season as the go-to player for the Gamecocks. He provided 14.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 25.8 minutes. If he was so important to South Carolina, why did he play so sparingly? Silva still had a propensity to foul. He accrued at least four fouls 18 times and fouled out of five contests. Silva will need to figure out how to play with aggression, but stay away from the whistle. He has not been able to do this in his first three seasons, but maybe he'll get some star calls as a senior. If he can stay on the court, Silva could improve upon his 10 double-doubles from last season.
Also Considered: Daniel Gafford, Arkansas; Nick Richards, Kentucky; Austin Wiley, Auburn, Abdul Ado, Mississippi State; Donta Hall, Alabama
Freshman: Keldon Johnson, Kentucky Wildcats
While it is tempting to look at the excellent first-year players at LSU and Vanderbilt for the Freshman of the Year, it would be silly to ignore Kentucky. The Wildcat roster is once again very deep and the rotation crunch may diminish fantasy value of various players. Johnson is likely to be immune to the minute restriction because he can do everything that Calipari asks. His primary role may be scoring. It is easy to look at Reid Travis' numbers from Stanford and think he will tally double-doubles with Kentucky, but his role will be much different. Johnson will be valuable because he can score, rebound, and even set up the offense on occasion.
Also Considered: Darius Garland, Vanderbilt; Simi Shittu, Vanderbilt; Andrew Nembhard, Florida; Naz Reid, LSU; Emmitt Williams, LSU; Blake Hinson, Mississippi
Scoring: Jalen Hudson, Florida Gators
In his first season with Florida after transferring from Virginia Tech, Hudson broke out as a scorer. He averaged a team-leading 15.5 points and had an early statement game in the double-overtime win over Gonzaga on Nov. 24. He hit eight 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 35 points. The Gators dropped their next three games (to Duke, Florida State, and Loyola-Chicago), but Hudson continued to score throughout the season. A modest improvement in free throw percentage (just 66.2 percent on freebies last season) could lift Hudson to have the best scoring average for Florida since possibly Vernon Maxwell in the late 1980s.
Also Considered: Tremont Waters, LSU; Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State; Bryce Brown, Auburn; John Petty, Alabama
Rebounding: Jontay Porter, Missouri Tigers
Porter had a really nice freshman season, but it was kind of lost in the shadow of his brother Michael who barely played for the Tigers. Jontay reclassified to play with his brother and showed off a nice range of skills. He moved between the starting lineup and coming off the bench to play 24.5 minutes. He provided 9.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.7 blocks. Porter knocked down 36.4 percent of his 3-pointers and had three double-doubles, including two in SEC play. The 6-11 sophomore closed his first season with at least seven rebounds in his last seven conference games. He should be the clear star for the Tigers in 2018-19 and dominate the boards.
Also Considered: Reid; Shittu; Gafford; Grant Williams, Tennessee; Admiral Schofield, Tennessee; Aric Holman, Mississippi State; Reid Travis, Kentucky
Assists: Tremont Waters, LSU Tigers
As a freshman, Waters had to do it all. The 5-11 guard led the Tigers with 15.9 points, 6.0 assists, and 2.0 steals. He hit a team-high 72 3-pointers. Coach Will Wade has brought in plenty of help in freshmen Naz Reid and Emmitt Williams as well as Washington transfer Kavell Bigby-Williams. Waters should have plenty of easy entry passes that will be converted into points in the paint. He will, of course, call his own number often and continue to score in bunches. Waters won't have to worry about hitting the glass (he averaged 3.4 boards). Assists will be at a premium across the country, which will help Waters spring up draftboards.
Also Considered: Quade Green, Kentucky; Nembhard; Jared Harper, Auburn; Saben Lee, Vanderbilt; Jordan Bone, Tennessee; Lamar Peters, Mississippi State
Sleepers
Yanni Wetzel, forward/center, Vanderbilt Commodores
Any time I hear the phrase "point forward," I get excited. That has been used to describe Commodore freshman Simi Shittu, but he is unlikely to be a sleeper. Shittu could be paired with the 6-11 Wetzell who transferred in from Division II St. Mary's (Texas) University. He averaged 15.5 points and 6.8 rebounds as a sophomore in 2016-17. The native of New Zealand was once nationally ranked in tennis, so he should have excellent footwork. He is able to step outside and knock down 3-pointers. Wetzel hit 42 percent from the perimeter. Many people will concentrate on Shittu and the Commodore guards, Darius Garland and Saben Lee, but don't forget about Wetzel during your draft.
Nick Claxton, forward, Georgia Bulldogs
Only Georgia and Mississippi have new coaches in the SEC and both teams went with experienced headmen. At Marquette and Indiana, Tom Crean was able to maximize his talent and was a consistent winner. The Bulldogs have not been to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since 2001 and 2002 when Jim Harrick was in charge. Crean could have a building block in the 6-11 Claxton. As a freshman, he played just 14.7 minutes, but was able to average 3.9 points and 3.9 rebounds. Claxton hit 36.4 percent (8-of-22) of his 3-pointers. Georgia does not have a double-digit scorer returning (they only had one, Yante Maten, last season), so Claxton could take advantage and lead the team in scoring.
Also Considered: Wendell Mitchell, Texas A&M, Felipe Haase, South Carolina; Xavier Pinson, Missouri; Noah Locke, Florida; Mason Jones, Arkansas
Top-10
1. Tremont Waters, G, LSU
2. Jontay Porter, F, Missouri
3. Chris Silva, C, South Carolina
4. Quinddary Weatherspoon, G, Mississippi State
5. Simi Shittu, F, Vanderbilt
6. Admon Gilder, G, Texas A&M
7. Keldon Johnson, G, Kentucky
8. Dan Gafford, C, Arkansas
9. Grant Williams, F, Tennessee
10. Terence Davis, F, Ole Miss
