BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore forward Brandon Bass made it a consensus sweep of the two major polling groups Wednesday when the Southeastern Conference announced that the coaches had voted Bass the 2005 Player of the Year.
Bass on Tuesday was named the league Player of the Year by the media voters for Associated Press.
The Baton Rouge product from Capital High School was also honored as the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his efforts on the court and in the classroom. Bass was earlier selected CoSIDA Academic All-District for his 3.45 cumulative grade point average which included a fall semester with four As and one B.
LSU freshman Glen Davis, the Newcomer of the Year for the league as chosen by AP, was honored as the Freshman of the Year by the voting coaches who could not vote for players on their own team in any category.
Bass was a unanimous first-team All-SEC choice along with Anthony Roberson of Florida and Kennedy Winston of Alabama. Also on the first team were Earnest Shelton of Alabama, Ronnie Brewer of Arkansas, David Lee of Florida, Chuck Hayes of Kentucky and Lawrence Roberts of Mississippi State. There were four first-team seniors, two juniors and two sophomores.
On the second team All-SEC squad was Davis, the lone freshman picked on either team. Also on the second team were Chuck Davis of Alabama, Matt Walsh of Florida, Kelenna Azubuike of Kentucky, Patrick Spark of Kentucky, Shane Power of Mississippi State, Carlos Powell of South Carolina and Corey Smith of Vanderbilt.
Davis was one of five players who were unanimous selections to the all-freshman team along with Ronald Steele of Alabama, Darian Townes of Arkansas, Toney Douglas of Auburn and Rajon Rondo of Kentucky. Also on the All-Freshman squad were Corey Brewer of Florida, Chris Lofton of Tennessee, and Shan Foster of Vanderbilt.
Tubby Smith was named the SEC Coach of the Year, Todd Abernethy of Ole Miss was the Sixth Man of the Year and Chuck Hayes of Kentucky was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
The Tigers open Southeastern Conference Tournament play Friday at 8:45 p.m. CST at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta against the winner of Thursday night’s first-round game between Vanderbilt and Auburn.