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Offseason Hoops Roundup: SEC West

The SEC basketball season is several months away from starting, but there's still been plenty of news with coaching changes, transfers and recruiting in the conference. Cats Illustrated takes an in-depth look at the SEC West and the changes fans can expect to see next season.

Avery Johnson hopes to see more improvement in his second year
Avery Johnson hopes to see more improvement in his second year
USA Today Sports
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Alabama Crimson Tide (18-15, 10th in conference)

Avery Johnson’s first year in Tuscaloosa was full of ups and downs. The Crimson Tide scored upset wins over Wichita State and Notre Dame early in the season, but were unable to maintain consistency in conference play.

Coaching changes: Johnson hired former Kentucky basketball player and Arkansas coach John Pelphrey to his staff shortly after the season ended. Pelphrey will be the associate head coach for Alabama.

Transferring out: Sophomore guard Justin Coleman and junior forward Michael Kessens both decided to leave the Alabama basketball program after the season ended. Coleman, an Alabama native who decided to transfer to Samford, averaged 7.8 points per game in 26 minutes of action. Kessens graduated early and will transfer to Florida International, where he will be eligible immediately.

Transferring in: Former four-star recruit and Ohio State transfer Daniel Giddens chose Alabama over a host of other schools. Giddens, listed at 6-foot-10, will have to sit out next season, but he will provide a boost to the Alabama frontcourt in 2018.

While Giddens will sit out next year, Johnson was able to land graduate transfer Corban Collins from Morehead State. The 6-foot-3 guard was second-team All Ohio Valley Conference last season and led the Eagles in scoring with 11 points per game.

Recruiting: Four-star Braxton Key and three-star forward Ar'Mond Davis are the only commitments for Alabama in the 2016 class.

Arkansas Razorbacks (16-16, 8th in conference)

The Razorbacks were one of the SEC’s best teams in 2015, but they had a down year in 2016. Mike Anderson had to replace several key pieces, like Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls, from a team that was the SEC runner-up and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Anderson will hope to have a better team next season.

Coaching changes: No staff changes.

Transferring out: Freshmen Lorenzo Jenkins and Jimmy Whitt both decided to transfer after the season ended. Whitt was a highly-touted recruit in the 2015 class and looked to be a player to build around in the coming seasons. However, he will finish his final three years of eligibility at SMU. Jenkins played in just one game for Arkansas. He will transfer to Colorado State.

Transferring in: None.

Recruiting: Anderson is bringing in a big class for next season. Six players are currently signed, headlined by junior college four-star guard Jaylen Barford. Three guards and three forwards makeup the Arkansas recruiting class.


Auburn Tigers (11-20, 13th in conference)

Bruce Pearl
Bruce Pearl
USA Today

The Auburn faithful didn’t have much to cheer about in 2016 outside of an upset win over Kentucky. The Tigers won just 11 games and finished next to last in the SEC. Pearl showed positive signs in year one of his tenure, but after a disappointing second year, he will need a strong third year to keep fans interested.

Coaching changes: Chad Dollar joins Bruce Pearl’s staff after five years at Georgia Tech. Dollar is a former associate head coach at Eastern Kentucky and spent one season at Wichita State under Gregg Marshall before leaving for Georgia Tech.

Transferring out: Three players left Auburn’s program, though they didn’t all transfer. Tahj Shamsid-Deen, a former starter at point guard, is giving up basketball after multiple shoulder injuries. Center Trayvon Reed left the program after dealing with legal issues. Reed signed with Auburn after he was dismissed from Maryland before ever enrolling due to an arrest.

Kareem Canty, the hero against Kentucky with 26 points, parted ways with Auburn before the season ended.

Transferring in: Pearl signed three transfers this offseason. Forward La’Ron Smith from Bethune Cookman and point guard Ronnie Johnson from Houston are both graduate transfers and will be eligible this season. Presbyterian forward DeSean Murray will have to sit out next season, but he led the Big South in scoring with 20 points per game and will look to be a big boost for the Tigers in 2017-18.

Recruiting: The good news for Auburn fans is that Pearl landed the third highest recruiting class in the conference according to Rivals.com. The class is headlined by five-star guard Mustapha Heron. Four-star guard Jared Harper will also be an impact player for Pearl next season. Three-star forward Anfernee McLemore and unranked guard Mike Cohen round out the 20th best class in the country.

LSU Tigers (19-14, 4th in conference)

The most disappointing team in the SEC last season, and one of the more disappointing teams in the entire country, was LSU. Ben Simmons, Antonio Blakeney and several other returning players should have had the Tigers in the hunt for an SEC championship and NCAA Tournament bid. Neither one of those things happened and now Johnny Jones must regroup.

Coaching changes: Robert Kirby replaces David Patrick, who left to take an assistant coaching job at TCU under Jamie Dixon.

Transferring out: None. However, LSU did lose Simmons and Tim Quarterman early to the NBA Draft.

Transferring in: None

Recruiting: Jones has five players signed for next season, led by four-star guard Skylar Mays. Mays signed with LSU over Mississippi State, Oregon, UNLV and several others.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (14-17, 11th in conference)

Ben Howland is bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in Mississippi State history
Ben Howland is bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in Mississippi State history
USA Today Sports

Ben Howland has his hands full with a rebuild at Mississippi State, but he’s off to a quick start. The Bulldogs finished the season 14-17 but went .500 over their last 10 games, which included an upset over Vanderbilt. A big piece to last years team, Malik Newman, withdrew from the NBA Draft, but Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reported that Newman may transfer from the university.

Coaching changes: None.

Transferring out: None. Newman is the only player—at least as of now—that has considered transferring from Mississippi State. The Bulldogs lost five seniors off of the 2016 team.

Transferring in: None. Howland told Clarion-Ledger columnist Hugh Kellenberger that he would consider adding a fifth-year graduate transfer, but nothing has materialized to this point.

Recruiting: This is where Howland has made the most damage to this point. Mississippi State has the second-ranked class in the conference and sixth nationally, according to Rivals.com. The seven man class features six four-star players, led by Texas center Schnider Herard and Mississippi native Mario Kegler. Kegler finished his high school career at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

Four-stars Abdulhakim Ado, Tyson Carter, Lamar Peters and Eli Wright all signed with Mississippi State in the early signing period. Howland added unranked Alabama big man E.J. Datcher to the fold last month.

Ole Miss Rebels (20-12, 6th in conference)

Andy Kennedy once again led the Rebels to a winning record, but the Rebels came up just shy of another NCAA Tournament bid. Stefan Moody’s brilliant Ole Miss career comes to an end, so Kennedy will have to replace his star guard.

Coaching changes: None.

Transferring out: Terry Brutus graduated from the school and will finish his career at Samford. He averaged just seven minutes and 0.6 points per game as a junior. Freshman J.T. Escobar also transferred. The Florida native returned closer to home, where he will finish his college career at North Florida.

Transferring in: Kennedy has brought two transfers in thus far in the offseason. Cullen Neal is a graduate transfer from New Mexico and will be eligible immediately. Neal averaged 12 points per game last season for the Lobos and will look to fill the void Moody left.

Dominik Olejniczak will also transfer to Ole Miss. Olejniczak is a native of Poland and will transfer to the Rebels after playing one season at Drake. He averaged 6.5 points per game off the bench for the Bulldogs.

Recruiting: Five players, four of them are ranked as three-stars, are signed for next season’s team. Texas Center Nate Morris chose the Rebels over Baylor, Florida State, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Texas and several others.

Texas A&M Aggies (26-8, 1st in conference)

Billy Kennedy led Texas A&M to one of its best seasons in recent memory
Billy Kennedy led Texas A&M to one of its best seasons in recent memory
USA Today Sports

Billy Kennedy took a nice mix of experienced seniors and talented freshmen to the sweet 16 this past season. The Aggies were able to claim a share of the SEC regular season championship with Kentucky as well. But now four starters—Danuel House, Alex Caruso, Jalen Jones and Anthony Collins—are gone, which means several new faces will have to step up if the Aggies have any chance of a repeat of this past season.

Coaching changes: Rick Stansbury was able to help Kennedy land one of the best recruiting classes in A&M’s history in 2015, but now he’s once again going to be a head coach of a program. Stansbury was hired by Western Kentucky on March 28. Kennedy replaced Stansbury with former SMU assistant Ulric Maligi.

Transferring out: Elijah Thomas transferred from Texas A&M to Clemson in January.

Transferring in: Lipscomb guard J.C. Hampton will play his final season of college with the Aggies. Hampton averaged nearly 16 points a game for Lipscomb last season. He’ll bring experience to the Texas A&M backcourt.

Recruiting: Kennedy has another solid group of freshmen coming in next season. Ranked as the 22nd best class nationally according to Rivals.com, four-stars J.J. Caldwell, Robert Williams and DeShawn Corprew look to compete for playing time right away next season.

You can follow Cats Illustrated reporter Derek Terry on Twitter @DTerryRivals.

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