BATON ROUGE — The final touches were put on the 2002-03 men’s basketball season Monday at the Lod Cook Alumni Center with the annual basketball banquet presented by the Sixth Man Club.
The Tiger team finished the season 21-11, second in the SEC Western Division, semifinalists in the SEC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years and to post season play for the third time in the last four years.
Coach John Brady gave out several awards, highlighted by the Senior Awards to Brad Bridgewater, Torris Bright, Thomas Davis, Ronald Dupree, Brian Green and Collis Temple III. Bridgewater, Bright, Dupree and Temple combined for over 80 wins, an SEC Championship, two NCAA appearances (including a Sweet 16 showing in 2000) and one NIT appearance in their time at LSU besides five wins over Top 10 teams in the AP poll, including three this season.
Winning achievement awards for Xavier Whipple for Most Improved, Brian Green for Scholastic Achievement (3.904 GPA), Jaime Lloreda as the Best Defensive Player and the Best Rebounder, Ronald Dupree as the Best Offensive Player, Torris Bright for Assist Leader and Collis Temple III for the Free Throw Award.
Temple, who has completed both his undergraduate and graduate degrees and is presently working on his Doctorate degree, was honored with a special Academic Achievement Award from the LSU coaching staff and the annual “Tiger” Award chosen by the coaching staff for the player who most exemplifies the “team” values was senior Brad Bridgewater.