BATON ROUGE — The Southeastern Conference unveiled its fifth-annual men’s basketball coaches’ preseason All-SEC teams Monday afternoon and the voting proved to be good for the LSU men’s basketball team.
The Tigers will open the 2008-09 season on Saturday Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. against Jackson State in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The game is part of an unprecedented doubleheader with the men’s basketball game in the afternoon and the LSU football game with Troy in the evening at 7 p.m.
Senior Marcus Thornton and redshirt junior Tasmin Mitchell were named to the first team, while senior center Chris Johnson was named a pre-season All-SEC second team selection.
The coaches’ preseason All-SEC first and second teams consist of a minimum of eight players on each squad, voted on by the SEC head men’s basketball coaches. No ties were broken and no predicted order of finish was made.
Thornton averaged 19.6 points per game last year to finish second in the SEC in scoring. He led the league in scoring during the 16 league games, averaging over 21 points a game. He was just the second player in LSU history to hit at least 90 three-pointers in a season.
Mitchell is coming off an injury redshirt season in which he only played three games before a stress fracture and surgery abruptly ended the campaign early. He averaged 14.5 points in 2007 and 11.4 points in the NCAA Final Four season of 2006 as he has started every game of his 71-game LSU career.
Johnson had his best LSU season as a junior, averaging 11.6 points despite missing seven games in the middle of the year with a broken bone in his right hand. Johnson average 6.6 rebounds and had 66 total blocks.
Also on the first team with Thornton and Mitchell were Nick Calathes of Florida, Patrick Patterson of Kentucky (unanimous), Chris Warren of Ole Miss, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State, Devan Downey of South Carolina, Tyler Smith of Tennessee and A. J. Ogilvy of Vanderbilt (unanimous). LSU was the only team with two players on the first team.
On the second team with Johnson were: Alonzo Gee and Ronald Steele of Alabama; Michael Washington of Arkansas, Korvtoney Barber of Auburn, Terrance Woodbury of Georgia, Jodie Meeks of Kentucky, Dominque Archie of South Carolina, Wayne Chism and J. P. Prince of Tennessee.
SEC Men’s Basketball Preseason Awards
First Team All-SEC/Pos/Ht/Wt/Cl/Hometown
Nick Calathes, Florida/G-F/6-6/194/So./Casselberry, Fla.
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky/—/6-9/235/So./Huntington, W. Va.
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU/F/6-7/235/Jr./Denham Springs, La.
Marcus Thornton, LSU/G/6-4/205/Sr./Baton Rouge, La.
Chris Warren, Ole Miss/G/5-10/160/So./Orlando, Fla.
Jarvis Varnado, Miss. State/F-C/6-9/210/Jr./Brownsville, Tenn.
Devan Downey, South Carolina/G/5-9/175/Jr./Chester, S.C.
Tyler Smith, Tennessee/F/6-7/215/Jr./Pulaski, Tenn.
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt/C/6-11/250/So./Sydney, Australia
Second Team All-SEC/Pos/Ht/Wt/Cl/Hometown
Alonzo Gee, Alabama/G/6-6/219/Sr./Palm Beach, Fla.
Ronald Steele, Alabama/G/6-1/191/Sr./Birmingham, Ala.
Michael Washington, Arkansas/F-C/6-9/239/Jr./McGehee, Ark.
Korvtoney Barber, Auburn/F/6-7/225/Sr./Manchester, Ga.
Terrance Woodbury, Georgia/G-F/6-7/221/Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.
Chris Johnson, LSU/C/6-11/210/Sr./Montross, Va.
Jodie Meeks, Kentucky/—/6-4/208/Jr./Norcross, Ga.
Dominque Archie, South Carolina/F/6-7/200/Jr./Augusta, Ga.
Wayne Chism, Tennessee/F/6-9/242/Jr./Jackson, Tenn.
J.P. Prince, Tennessee/G/6-7/205/Jr./Memphis, Tenn.