AJC not very high on SEC basketball for 08-09

Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has a look at the upcoming college basketball season. While he - like many - assume it's a foregone conclusion that UNC will walk away with the national title, the rest of his top 25 is fairly intriguing. From the SEC, he ranks Tennessee #5, Florida #17, and Ole Miss #24.

I think Tennessee will actually be better in 08-09 than they were last year, but they won't have as good a record. And by better, I mean they'll advance deeper in the tournament. This past year's team - like Vandy - relied too much on jump shots to operate. They'll be much more post-oriented next season.

Florida and Ole Miss both have awesome young backcourts that gained invaluable experience last year. Both have major questions inside though, as UF's Speights has entered the NBA draft and OM lost their 3 big guys to graduation. If either team can just consistent play inside, the sky is the limit for either team.

I've said it before - even with the loss of Randoplh - LSU has the talent in place to be good. Now that they have a coach who knows what he's doing, they may be able to maintain the consistency that John Brady never could.