BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Familiar faces dotted the Grand Bohemian Hotel ballroom throughout the men’s basketball SEC Media Day on Tuesday. Only two new coaches — Kentucky’s Mark Pope and Vanderbilt’s Mark Byington — are in the league. John Calipari moved west to Arkansas after 15 years at Kentucky and former Commodores lead man Jerry Stackhouse was fired, but there was little other coaching movement.
Where the changes came, as they often have in the modern collegiate athletics landscape, was on the rosters. More than 1,000 men’s basketball players entered the NCAA transfer portal when it opened in March, with SEC teams among the primary benefactors of the movement — seven of 247Sports’ top 20 transfer classes are in the SEC.