BATON ROUGE — The 1999-2000 LSU men’s basketball team, off one of the more successful seasons in team history, was honored Monday night at the annual team banquet sponsored by the Sixth Man Club.
The banquet was held at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on the LSU campus.
LSU men’s basketball coach John Brady was the emcee for the evening’s activities, which included the presentation of the Rupp Cup to Brady for SEC Coach of the Year. Tim Petro, the President of the Birmingham Tipoff Club, which sponsors the award, was on hand to make the presentation to the LSU coach, who was selected Coach of the Year by the league coaches and the media.
The team was presented with team pictures and NCAA watches for its participation in this year’s tournament, the first postseason appearance at LSU since 1993. Also three players who were honored in the post-season SEC awards — Jabari Smith, Stromile Swift and Torris Bright — were recognized as were SEC players of the week Lamont Roland, Brian Beshara and Swift.
The special achievement awards were as follows: Most Improved (as selected by the coaching staff) — Collis Temple III, Brad Bridgewater and Ronald Dupree; the Scholastic Award for the highest GPA — Brian Green, Brian Beshara; Best Defensive Player — Lamont Roland; Best Offensive Player — Stromile Swift; Assist Award — Torris Bright; Best Rebounder — Stromile Swift.
The special Tiger Award presented by the coaching staff to the complete player both on and off the floor involving not only basketball on-court requirements but leadership and academics was given to sophomore Jermaine Williams.
The highlight of the evening was the recognition of the team’s lone senior, Jabari Smith, who was featured prominently in a post-season video tribute shown to the large crowd. Smith received a lengthy standing ovation in thanks for his efforts to help the LSU program.
The 1999-2000 team finished with 28 wins, the second most in school history, and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987. LSU went from worst to first to win the SEC Western Division Championship and from 11th a year ago to the SEC regular season Championship, its first since 1991.