Overview

• Florida, the defending national champion, was picked No. 1 with Kentucky slotted second in the SEC’s media preseason poll released Monday.
• Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh earned Preseason Player of the Year honors after bypassing the 2025 NBA Draft following a 16.2-point scoring average last season.
• The preseason All-SEC first team features Oweh, Florida’s Alex Condon, Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard, Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford and Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr.
• The top half of the predicted order after Florida and Kentucky is Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri and Ole Miss, followed by Texas at ninth.
• Early analysis highlighted Auburn and Texas as possible overrates under coaching transitions and tabbed Arkansas as a candidate to outperform its No. 5 projection.