LSU

Favorite: Florida. Player of the Year: Glen Davis. Conference Rank: 3rd.

Florida is #1 in the SEC Preseason Media Day Poll.

Billy Donovan is the SEC's best coach. But who follows him? How far down is Tubby on the list?

Glen Davis

Kevin Durant

Tyler Hansbrough

Joakim Noah

Greg Oden

Brandon Rush

Joe CrawfordWith the ever-growing pressure on coaches and players to win now, teams must be able to reload from year to year faster than ever. This year, the SEC welcomes back all five starters from the defending national champion Florida Gators, a Final Four team in LSU, and a lot of question marks everywhere else. Here’s some players who will have to step up or expand their games in order to take their teams to the next level.

Much of the nation knows the SEC as a football conference. And why not, with teams like Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, and Alabama stealing the national limelight? Still others see the SEC as the leading conference in baseball. Which, with 9 out of the 12 SEC schools ranked in the Top 25 at one point last season, it is. However, many overlook the heritage-rich Southeastern Conference in terms of basketball. That is, until last season. In what pre-season analysts called a “down year” for the SEC, the conference sent 6 teams to the NCAA – two of them to the Final Four, produced the national champion, and finished just behind the ACC in RPI standings.

In this month's updated Preseason Top 40, we have the added bonus of knowing who left (Cedric Simmons, Kyle Lowry, etc) and who stayed in school (Joakim Noah, Glen Davis, etc). The only team to completely drop out of the Top 40 is NC State, replaced by #37 Michigan.

NBA Draft expert Jeff Fox profiles the LSU star.

CHN's 2005-06 All-Rookie Teams. First Team: Dominic James, Rodney Stuckey, Brandon Rush, Tyrus Thomas, Tyler Hansbrough.