Sitting in the No. 13 spot is LSU, who will also be entering the second season under head coach Matt McMahon in 2023-24. As for the year that the Tigers will be coming off, LSU missed the NCAA Tournament due to their first losing season since the 2016-17 campaign, finishing the year with a 14-19 overall record, as well as a 2-16 mark in SEC play.
The Tigers looking ahead will have to replace top scorer KJ Williams going into next season among others, but will also return the likes of Adam Miller, Cam Hayes, and Derek Fountain to lead what could be a talented team. Similar to last offseason as well, LSU should be busy in the transfer portal across the coming weeks and months, and will likely add to a list of newcomers that already features Corey Chest and Mike Williams.
Coming in at No. 12 is SEC basketball’s lone program that is officially beginning a new era in 2023-24, as new head coach Chris Beard takes over at the helm of the Rebels program. As to what the Rebels 2022-23 campaign looked like, Ole Miss finished the year with a 12-21 overall record, as well as a 3-15 mark in SEC play, with their overall win total tying for the program’s lowest since the 2017-18 season.
Also missing the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season, the Rebels will now have to replace a few names, one of the biggest of which has entered the transfer portal in guard Amaree Abram. Ole Miss is however currently set to return prominent names including Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield, as well as add others such as incoming freshman Rashaud Marshall among other likely transfer portal additions this offseason.