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Jontay Porter joins Missouri: 5 things you need to know

By Chris Stone

BERKELEY, CA - DECEMBER 09: Head coach Cuonzo Martin of the California Golden Bears gives instructions to his team during their game against the Incarnate Word Cardinals at Haas Pavilion on December 9, 2015 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - DECEMBER 09: Head coach Cuonzo Martin of the California Golden Bears gives instructions to his team during their game against the Incarnate Word Cardinals at Haas Pavilion on December 9, 2015 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 12: Kentucky Wildcats celebrate after the Southeastern Conference Basketball Championship Game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Arkansas Razorbacks on March 12, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Kentucky defeated Arkansas 82-65 to become the Southeastern Conference Champions for the third time in as many years. (Photo by Frank Mattia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 12: Kentucky Wildcats celebrate after the Southeastern Conference Basketball Championship Game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Arkansas Razorbacks on March 12, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Kentucky defeated Arkansas 82-65 to become the Southeastern Conference Champions for the third time in as many years. (Photo by Frank Mattia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

1. The SEC won’t just be a football conference this season

In the Southeastern Conference, football is king. However, this season, the gap between the gridiron and the hardwood may narrow just a little bit as the league’s basketball teams have assembled its best collection of talent in recent memory.

Let’s start with the newcomers. Three of the top 10 recruiting classes of 2017 belong to SEC schools, according to 247Sports. As usual, Kentucky assembled a top notch class and we already know about the Porters and Missouri, but Avery Johnson also put together an impressive group at Alabama by landing 5-star point guard Collin Sexton and 4-star combo guard John Petty in the backcourt.

The league has plenty of returning talent as well. Robert Williams, a projected lottery pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, opted to return to school at Texas A&M for his sophomore season, Vanderbilt returns most of its important rotation pieces from a squad that snuck into the NCAA Tournament last season and even lowly Georgia has Yante Maten, one of the most underrated studs in all of college basketball.

Next: 5 potential landing spots for Mitchell Robinson

In 2017, the conference sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament, but that number could grow to seven or more this season — Missouri, for example, now looks like a good bet to make the field after finishing 8-24 last season — with the improved rosters. That would mean sending half of the league to the Big Dance, something the SEC hasn’t done since 2008 when it needed a Georgia team that went 4-12 in league play to win the conference tournament.