By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

As sportswriters, we love to make predictions, especially when we don’t revisit our assumptions afterwards to see how well we did.

So, in the spirit of trying to hold myself accountable, here are three semi-bold predictions for the upcoming SEC basketball season, that I’ll come back to at season’s end to see how I did.

1- Florida, not Kentucky, will enter the SEC Tournament with the best conference record. On the surface it’s easy to dismiss this as an overreaction on my part to Kentucky’s loss to Evansville; I promise it’s not.

Don’t get me wrong, as much as I enjoy watching a John Calipari coached team lose that type of game, the outcome will have absolutely zero bearing on the team they’ll ultimately become.

The reason I’m going with Florida is, besides the dearth of talent on the Gators roster, Kerry Blackshear Jr.

Normally, the expectations for a graduate transfer aren’t quite that high because if they were that talented to begin with, they would’ve either already been drafted, or would still be with their original team; Blackshear is the rare exception.

Having watched him play at Virginia Tech for the past few years, he is a better than average talent who will bring experience and tenacity to the Gators.

He’s that “heart and soul” type player you want on your team in big time games, because in most instances he’s going to deliver. He may not be the best player in the conference, but he could wind up being the most important.

2- Anthony Edwards will be the SEC Player of the Year. I say this about Edwards for two reasons.

The first is that I genuinely think he may be the most talented player in the country. In a freshman class that is underwhelming compared to the last few years, Edwards is one of the few players that would’ve been a top tier talent in those earlier classes.

The second, and what may factor in as much as his talent, is that Tom Crean is going to make sure Edwards is showcased as much as he can.

It’s like if you were the owner of Willie’s Wee-Nee Wagon for a day, would you spend it advertising the burger and hotdogs, or would you push the pork chop sandwich?

You’re going to go with what works best, right. (By the way, Cole Anthony is going to get the same treatment at UNC that Edwards will get.)

Edwards has the potential to be a program changing recruit, so you know Crean is going to give him every opportunity to put up numbers. Edwards won’t be the most efficient player in the country, but he may turn out to the best.

3- Only 5 teams from the SEC will hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Out of the three predictions, this is the one most likely to come back and bite me.

College basketball is so wide open this year it’s difficult to find a team, let alone multiple teams, you feel confident in.

This may be the season all those whose clamor to see more mid-major teams in the tournament get their wish.

Regardless of whether or not any of these predictions come true, this season promises to be an entertaining one. It’ll just be a little bit easier to revisit in a few months if I happen to be right.