BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s basketball Head Coach John Brady announced Wednesday that LSU junior forward Brian Beshara would replace center Jabari Smith on the upcoming Southeastern Conference All-Star team which will travel to Japan for a series of games next month.
The change is being made to allow Smith to concentrate fully on his rehab after minor knee surgery earlier this month.
Beshara averaged 11 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Tigers this past season, starting all 26 games he participated in. He missed the first meeting with Ole Miss last year due to injury.
Brady and Ole Miss Coach Rod Barnes will be the Co-Head Coaches of the All-Star team which leaves for four days of practice beginning August 1 at Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Ala. The team leaves August 5 for Fukuoka, Japan for the first of five games against the Japanese National team. The team will return to the United States on August 15. LSU basketball trainer Drew Shea will handle duties on the trip as the team’s manager.
The other players on the team are: Sam Haginas (F, Alabama); Brandon Dean (G, Arkansas); Doc Robinson (G, Auburn); Major Parker (F, Florida); Adrian Jones (G, Georgia); Saul Smith (G, Kentucky); Marcus Hicks (F, Ole Miss); Tang Hamilton (F, Mississippi State); Tony Kitchings (C, South Carolina); Vincent Yarbrough (F, Tennessee); and, Darius Coulibaly (C, Vanderbilt).