Where Preview Magazines Are Predicting Florida In The SEC

With the college basketball season less than two months away we’re well into preview season–and that means preview magazines.

Preview magazines that cover every team in the sport have become a tradition for many college basketball fans who can get a look at the landscape of the sport overall but more specifically–the league they’re most interested in.

These days there are three major college basketball preview magazines–Lindy’s, Blue Ribbon Sportsbook, and The Almanac. To get a feel for how these magazines feel about the Gators, we will take a look at each of their rankings for the SEC. The writers involved in these huge college basketball previews take deep dives into the leagues they are covering in order to put out the best work possible–so where they have the Gators projected will give a good indication on what the pulse is surrounding the Gators nationally.

While the projected SEC finishes will be listed, no actual writing from these publications will be shared. Some generalizations of their comments will be shared, but nothing word for word as not to diminish the hard work of the writers. If you want to support college basketball journalism and are interested, I would encourage you to consider purchasing one or more of these magazines.

First of all, we’ll look at Lindy’s. Lindy’s is one of the longest running college basketball previews and has a strong reputation. Here is their predicted SEC finish:

1. Tennessee
2. Arkansas
3. Texas A&M
4. Kentucky
5. Auburn
6. Alabama 
7. Florida
8. Mississippi State
9. Ole Miss
10. Vanderbilt
11. Georgia
12. LSU 
13. Missouri 
14. South Carolina

The writer chose to have a bit of a wait and see approach with the Gators–saying the transfer class was arguably the best in the league, but being cautious to rank them any higher because they’re unsure how the group will gel. This will be a common trend, as all three magazines made comments along these lines. Let’s next look at the Blue Ribbon Sportsbook projected SEC rankings:

1. Tennessee
2. Arkansas
3. Kentucky
4. Texas A&M
5. Alabama
6. Mississippi State
7. Missouri
8. Auburn
9. Florida
10. Ole Miss
11. LSU
12. Vanderbilt
13. Georgia
14. South Carolina

Blue Ribbon’s writer spoke of a talented transfer class, but one that lacks the high-end scoring to power the Gators in a very good SEC. This writer also factored in program momentum a little bit more than Lindy’s, with Missouri and Mississippi State being rewarded for successful first years under their new coaches while Florida was down the rankings a bit. Finishing 9th in the SEC would be a disappointment for the Gators who would likely find themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a finish like that. 

Finally, here is The Almanac. The Almanac is the new kid on the block doing this for the second year in 2023, however it has already established itself as arguably the most respected. This is largely due to the fact that they talk to every coach in the country before doing their rankings, something Blue Ribbon and…