It’s just a few days until the regular season starts and there are already several significant injuries and absences throughout the SEC. The preseason edition of Quotable & Notable looks at the effects of some of these early roster complications.

Keith Hornsby’s early season absence pushes freshman Antonio Blakeney into a bigger role (northjersey.com).

• “We’ll have to make some adjustments but it will be difficult. He’s the glue. Night in and night out you know what you’re going to get from him.“ – Johnny Jones. The LSU coach here is referring to senior guard Keith Hornsby, who will miss the bulk of non-conference play after undergoing an undisclosed recent “medical procedure.” Hornsby quietly had one of the better seasons in the league last year (13.4 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.1 APG, 39.3% 3FG) and is projected to be a big part of what the Tigers are trying to accomplish. There’s no shortage of depth in the backcourt, though, since Jones can simply hand over more of his workload to freshman Antonio Blakeney — a player whom, incidentally, was just named to the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award watch list. Josh Gray and Jalyn Patterson, despite inconsistent campaigns a year ago, were fixtures in the backcourt rotation and will also be in the mix. But Hornsby’s loss still stings. The steady production the Tigers figured to get from he and Tim Quarterman was supposed to allow Blakeney and Ben Simmons to seamlessly transition to the college game. With Hornsby now on the mend, pressure shifts to the freshmen to carry the load offensively. The good news? Other than a Thanksgiving trip to the Legends Classic in Brooklyn where LSU will face Marquette and either Arizona State or North Carolina State, the Tigers’ schedule is full of games in which they’ll be heavy favorites.

• “…if we turn it over that much against a good team we’ll be down by 20 points.” – Dorian Finney-Smith. Trying to glean too much from exhibition play is a fool’s errand, and Florida‘s 89-42 pasting of Division II Palm Beach Atlantic last Thursday night was just another rendition of a Division I team beating up on an inferior opponent. But as Finney-Smith observed, the Gators turned the ball over 23 times and went just 10-of-27 at the free throw line. This comes from a team that struggled mightily in both areas of the game last season and lost a lot of close games because of it. Early season hiccups are understandable from a team that is relatively young and breaking in a brand new system under Mike White, but the Gators lost some of its scarce experience when fifth-year senior Alex Murphy went down with a foot injury that will sideline him from four to six weeks.

This might be a make-or-break year for Kim Anderson. (AP)

• “Everybody needs to be ready.” – Kim Anderson. Suspensions, losses and defections were the theme of Anderson’s first calendar year at Missouri. Things had been relatively quiet, though, in Columbia since Montaque Gill-Caesar’s surprising decision to transfer in July, but a familiar song returned just before the Tigers’ exhibition opener against Missouri Western last week. That was when Anderson announced that Namon Wright and DeAngelo Allen were suspended for the game for a “violation of athletic department and team policies.” According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, the pair are expected to return by Friday’s regular season opener, and if that’s the case, then this is a non-story. It could have even helped Missouri in the long run since players like K.J. Walton (17 points in the 92-53 win) got more minutes than he would have otherwise gotten, and Anderson desperately needs to develop some consistent sources of offense. But both Wright and Allen were suspended at various points last season and some situations (notably, Tramaine Isabell) dragged out longer than anticipated. Anderson is in a crucial year as he tries to prove to an athletic director that did not hire him that he’s the man for the job. Losing Wright for any length time would be a big blow since he contributed some big offensive performances at the end of last season and, along with Wes Clark, represents the closest thing to a proven scorer that the Tigers have.
• Let’s the close this edition with the opposite type of news: player additions. Last week Ben Howland secured a commitment from four-star big man Schnider Herard, beating out Kansas and Michigan State for his services. As SB Nation points out, Herard is the fourth member of the Rivals top 100 that Howland has locked down in his 2016 class, and the second player of which he’s beaten out Bill Self. The Bulldogs haven’t even played a single regular season game yet under Howland but it’s hard to imagine his first few months in Starkville going any better. I’ve written numerous times on this site over the past two weeks how I believe Mississippi State is gearing up for a solid first season under Howland due to the pairing of super-freshman Malik Newman with an experienced senior core. If that’s the case and Howland’s recruiting wins lead to sustainable results on the floor, the SEC might just have the makings of another solid program.

Greg Mitchell (@gregpmitchell) (231 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2015 at 2:02 pm by Greg Mitchell and is filed under microsites, sec. Tagged: alex murphy, Antonio Blakeney, ben howland, florida, johnny jones, keith hornsby, kim anderson, lsu, mississippi state, missouri, sec, sec basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.