BATON ROUGE — The LSU Sixth Man Club members celebrated the LSU Tigers Final Four season Friday night with their annual banquet at the Lod Cook Alumni Center on the LSU campus for the 2006 men’s basketball team.
The Tiger players were presented with framed team pictures and their NCAA Final Four watches and rings at the banquet as they were introduced to the crowd by master of ceremonies Victor Howell of Cox Sports Television.
Others honored with awards were Darrel Mitchell, the assist award (160 assists, 4.44 average, fifth best in the SEC) and the free throw award (75.8 percent, 122-of-161, the seventh best total in the league); Glen Davis, the league’s player of the year, was honored as the best rebounder (350 total boards, 9.7 average, the best in the SEC) and best offensive player (Davis led the league in both scoring — 18.6 — and rebounding — 9.7); Tyrus Thomas, who was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year, was named the most improved player; Garrett Temple was named the team’s best defensive player, and, David Fleshman was honored with the team’s scholastic award.
The Tiger Award, chosen by the coaches each year for an individual’s effort that aided the Tigers success, was awarded to freshman Tasmin Mitchell.
Coach John Brady also presented the specially made Senior Award to Darrel Mitchell, from St. Martinville. Mitchell was fourth in the league in scoring at 16.8 points per game and 4.4 assists and finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in three-point field goals and finished his LSU career at or near the top of seven all-time school statistical categories.
The Tigers, winners of 27 games, finished 2006 with a final ranking of No.3 in the nation after advancing through the top overall seed in the tournament (No. 1-ranked Duke) and Atlanta regional No. 2 seed Texas to advance LSU to the men’s NCAA Final Four for the first time in 20 years. The Tigers also won the outright SEC Championship with a 14-2 record, the first outright league title for LSU since 1985.