The Hoops Southbound Show

With the update this morning, KenPom has once again projected the SEC to be the best conference in college basketball! Coming off a historic year, today we preview the SEC for the 2025-2026 season. This year, it looks like the more traditional powers of the conference will be the teams to beat. Mark Pope's Kentucky Wildcats, Todd Golden's Florida Gators, John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks, Rick Barnes's Tennessee Volunteers and Nate Oats's Alabama Crimson Tide look to challenge to be the best in conference. We talk about the biggest storylines in SEC basketball this year, including a shift in roster building and new coaches Sean Miller, Bucky McMillian, and Steven Pearl. We talk SEC Player of the Year candidates Otega Oweh, Josh Hubbard, and Alex Condon. Will this be sophomore breakout year for Karter Knox, Tyler Tanner, and Somto Cyril? Will Nate Ament, Darius Acuff Jr. or Jasper Johnson have an incredible freshman year? Finally, the non-conference schedule is loaded! That's today on the Hoops Southbound Show!

The Top 5 Lists continue! Who are the best frontcourts in the SEC this season? The Tennessee Volunteers return Felix Okpara and bring in Carey to round out a physical group. Vanderbilt is a team that a lot of folks might be sleeping on, and Mark Byington brought in Washington and others to help out McGlockton this year. The Arkansas Razorbacks addresses a lot of the issues they had by bringing in Malique Ewin and Nick Pringle. The Kentucky Wildcats loaded up with talent by added names like Jayden Quaintance. But the team that seems to be the frontrunners in this position group are the Florida Gators who return all the faces from last year's national championship team. Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, and Rueben Chinyelu all return for another season in Gainesville. Plus we put together more updates and notes from across the SEC as we've open practice, scrimmages, and press conferences.

The Top 5 Lists continue! This week we're discussing the Top 5 Backcourts in the SEC for the 2025-26 season. Otega Oweh is a POTY candidate at Kentucky, Arkansas has five stars Meleek Thomas and Darius Acuff Jr. Florida brings in Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee. This top 5 list was the hardest of the season to make. Plus we get you updates from Fall Practices. That's today on The Hoops Southbound Show!

The Top 5 Lists return for another season. Today we're taking a look at the Top 5 Under the Radar teams, the teams probably deserving of more respect than what they're getting. Could Vanderbilt, LSU, or someone else be in store for a great season? Plus we look around the SEC for some Fall Camp updates.

Auburn's Bruce Pearl retires from coaching basketball after 11 years. Plus we have finally arrived Fall Practice. We take a look at those big questions we want to hear about as fall practice begins across the SEC.

After Todd Golden won his first national championship with the Florida Gators last season, the question was big this offseason, what coach will win their first title next? Today, we've put together a list of the SEC coaches we think should be on that watchlist.

Who is Alabama without Mark Sears? How does the Arkansas backcourt work? Is this a reload or a rebuild for Auburn and Tennessee? How important is the three to Kentucky's gameplay? The simple answer is, we don't know yet! This isn't a hot take episode or us taking a position. Before fall practice begins, we're asking the questions that we'll be paying attention to during fall practices and the early part of the season.

We're back from our break, and we're taking a look at the scheduling updates across the SEC. The Arkansas Razorbacks scheduled the entire elite eight from last year's NCAA Tournament?! The Kentucky Wildcats have Gonzaga, Louisville, Indiana, North Carolina and more! Texas is in Maui, Vandy is going to Atlantis, the SEC Conference schedule is out, and the ACC/ SEC Challenge games have been released. Let's break it down, today on the Hoops Southbound Show!

It's Decision Day 2025! Today players made the choice to stay in the NBA Draft or to return to college. Otega Oweh rejoins Kentucky, Karter Knox is back at Arkansas, Tahaad Pettiford is back at Auburn, Alex Condon returns to Florida. Meanwhile, Adou Thiero opts to stay in the NBA Draft. And as is our tradition, we close out Decision Day with our annual SEC Power Rankings.

Tons to talk about this week. The NBA Draft process continues as we countdown to Decision Day! Will Adou Theiro, Karter Knox, Tahaad Pettiford, Alex Condon, Otega Oweh, and Josh Hubbard come back to college? The decision is coming soon!And, JJ Andrews becomes the first major recruit to join the SEC for the 2026 class. How will the #1 recruit from Arkansas fair for the Razorbacks? Plus, Mark Pope is big on his roster for next season. We talk about his high praises for Kentucky's Jasper Johnson and Jelavić. And could Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler get another year to play college basketball? Finally, the NCAA is considering some rule changes to help the flow of the game in college basketball. We share our thoughts on the potential changes. All that and more today on the Hoops Southbound Show!