The past two off-seasons has seen an infusion of talent on both the floor and in the coaching circles. They won't be contenders this year but Tennessee, Auburn, Mississippi State and Alabama should be better sooner than later with the additions of Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, Ben Howland & Avery Johnson.
More importantly, the talent level has increased dramatically as well. LSU has a freshman class that rivals a typical Kentucky class with number one ranked prospect Ben Simmons and five star Antonio Blakeney. Texas A&M had a surprisingly fertile recruiting period adding 4 top-100 players.
Mississippi State immediately benefited from the hire of Howland and added top prospect Malik Newman. Newman is the headliner but Howland added other top players to form a top-20 class.
Auburn didn't add a star at the level of Malik Newman but did net the league another top-20 class. Auburn has a jump start on 2016, poaching five star Mustapha Heron from NYC.
Kentucky, along with Florida have been the class of the league. The recent talent infusion will make the league deeper and tougher. Don't fret, Kentucky still landed a top-5 class and will be a force.
Also returning to the scene will be Vanderbilt who should be one of the most improved teams in the nation. Among their better players will be Brookfield native Riley LaChance and Luke Kornet, son of former Buck draft pick, Frank Kornet. Vandy is also building a solid 2016 recruiting class.
The league is probably a 5 bid league this year, 6 max. In a year or two, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see the league match the B1G and ACC as a possible 8+ bid league.
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