BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team was picked second in the Southeastern Conference Western Division Monday and two Tigers were named second-team All-SEC in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.
Each SEC school selected two media members that cover their team and six additional writers from across the nation were selected by the conference office to form the 30-member voting panel.
In the West, Alabama and LSU both had 11 first-place votes but Alabama’s 151 total points were slightly ahead of LSU’s 147 points. Ole Miss received the other eight first place votes and the Rebels were picked third with 136 points. Alabama returns a total of nine letter winners from last year’s squad. LSU returns 10 lettermen and three starters from a year ago along with returning redshirt starter Tasmin Mitchell.
Mississippi State, Auburn and Arkansas rounded out the six in the Western Division.
Tennessee was the media’s favorite to win the East with 172 total points (23 first-place votes), ahead of second-place Florida’s 143 points (five first-place votes). The rest of the voting saw Kentucky third followed by Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Georgia.
In the vote for overall league champion, Tennessee earned 23 first-place votes to five for Florida and two for Kentucky.
Tennessee junior forward Tyler Smith was the choice of the media for SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year with 17 votes, followed by nine votes for Kentucky sophomore Patrick Patterson. South Carolina junior guard Devan Downey received two votes while LSU senior guard Marcus Thornton and Florida sophomore guard/forward Nick Calathes each garnered one vote.
Smith, Patterson, Downey and Calathes were joined on the All-SEC First Team by Vanderbilt sophomore center A. J. Ogilvy.
LSU’s Thornton led All-SEC Second Team honors and joined by Mississippi State junior forward/center Jarvis Varnado, Alabama senior guard Ronald Steele, LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell, Ole Miss sophomore guard Chris Warren and Alabama senior guard Alonzo Gee.
Points were compiled on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for each division. Each media member also voted for one team as an overall conference champion and a five-player All-SEC team.
The 2008-09 SEC Media Preseason Poll tips off SEC Basketball Media Days, this Wednesday and Thursday at the Birmingham Marriott in Alabama. LSU Coach Trent Johnson and senior Garrett Temple will represent the men’s basketball team in the event’s final session starting at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
SEC Preseason Media Poll
(First-Place Votes in Parentheses; * – unanimous selection)
SEC Champion: Tennessee 23; Florida 5, Kentucky 2
Eastern Division
Tennessee (23) 172 points
Florida (5) 143 points
Kentucky (2) 130 points
Vanderbilt 88 points
South Carolina 56 points
Georgia 41 points
Western Division
Alabama (11) 151 points
LSU (11) 147 points
Ole Miss (8) 136 points
Miss. State 91 points
Auburn 54 points
Arkansas 51 points
First Team All-SEC
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky (6-9, 235, So., Huntington, W. Va.)
Tyler Smith, Tennessee (6-7, 215, Jr., Pulaski, Tenn.)
Nick Calathes, Florida (6-6, 194, So., Casselberry, Fla.)
Devan Downey, South Carolina (5-9, 175, Jr., Chester, S.C.
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt (6-11, 250, So., Sydney, Australia)
Second Team All-SEC
Marcus Thornton, LSU (6-4, 205, Sr., Baton Rouge, La.)
Jarvis Varnado, Miss. State (6-9, 210, Jr., Brownsville, Tenn.)
Ronald Steele, Alabama (6-1, 191, Sr., Birmingham, Ala.)
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU (6-7, 240, Jr., Denham Springs, La.)
Chris Warren, Ole Miss (5-10, 160, So., Orlando, Fla.)
Alonzo Gee, Alabama (6-6, 219, Sr., Palm Beach, Fla.)