The Sports Bank’s college basketball season previews undergo a face lift this season. Rather than counting down the top 111 teams in 111 days, we will go conference-by-conference. I’ve already counted down the Pac-12 and Big 12 now we turn our attention to the SEC.
With the graduation of Marshall Henderson, it could actually be addition by subtraction as the Ole Miss Rebels who return a solid core and bring in a pair of key graduate transfers.
OLE MISS REBELS
Last Season: T-6th, 9-9 in SEC, 19-14 overall
Predicted SEC Finish: 4th
Projected Depth Chart
F/C: M.J. Rhett (Sr)/Dwight Coleby (So)
PF: Aaron Jones (Sr)/Sebastian Saiz (So)/Terry Brutus (So)
SF: Anthony Perez (So)/Marcanvis Hymon (Fr)
SG: Ladarius White (Sr)/Terence Smith (Sr)/Martavious Newby (Jr)/Roderick Lawrence (Jr)
PG: Jarvis Summers (Sr)/Stefan Moody (Jr)
Gone: SG-Marshall Henderson, PG-Derrick Millinghaus (transfer-SE Louisiana), Demarco Cox (transfer-Georgia Tech), SF-Janari Joesaar (transfer-UT-Pan American)
2014-2015 Outlook:
Even though their leading scorer, Henderson is gone, the Rebels still return Jarvis Summers who averaged 17.3 points per game as a junior. He was the team’s top three-point threat and is clearly more of a scoring point guard than true distributor.
Ladarius White was a key contributor a year ago and should compete for minutes at shooting guard along with UT-Martin transfer, Terence Smith. Smith averaged 14.6 points per game last year and combined with Martavious Newby and JUCO transfers Stefan Moody and Roderick Lawrence; Andy Kennedy has solid backcourt depth.
M.J. Rhett is another transfer who will immediately help in the frontcourt. Rhett was a double-double machine at Tennessee State and is an upgrade over Demarco Cox. Anthony Perez brings some versatility to the forward position since he can knock down outside shots while Aaron Jones makes his biggest impact on the glass and as a rim protector. Sebastian Saiz should be the first forward off the bench and also makes his mark as a rebounder.
Henderson was obviously a big time scorer but let’s be honest, he jacked up a ton of terrible shots. A bigger emphasis on team basketball and spreading around the scoring behind Summers should be enough for Ole Miss to make a move in the SEC standings and get back to the Big Dance.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/28 vs. Creighton (Emerald Coast Classic)
11/29 vs. Cincinnati/Middle Tennessee (Emerald Coast Classic)
12/4 vs. TCU (SEC/Big 12 Challenge)
12/7 at Oregon
12/30 at Dayton
OTHER SEC PREVIEWS:
BIG 12 PREVIEWS:
#1 KANSAS JAYHAWKS
#2 TEXAS LONGHORNS
PAC-12 PREVIEWS:
#1 ARIZONA WILDCATS
#4 UCLA BRUINS
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.