BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Second year coach Trent Johnson and fifth year senior Tasmin Mitchell represented the LSU men’s basketball team at Southeastern Conference Media Days Thursday at the Birmingham Marriott.
All 12 men’s teams along with the women’s teams took part in the day-long event which precedes the 2009-10 basketball season.
This year’s event took on a little different tone in the first year of the new 15-year television agreements with ESPN as more individual interviews were done with entities of the contract. ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes was handling things in the main ESPN room where he will be the broadcast analyst for SEC games with play-by-play partner Brad Nessler. ESPNU was also doing interviews as well in this area.
The new SEC Network was represented by Carter Blackburn who will be one of the play-by-play announcers for the over-the-air regional network of SEC games on Wednesday and Saturdays, while Dave Baker was interviewing the coaches and players for the SEC Digital Network and its partner XOS.
The print media wasn’t ignored either as they had a near hour session with the coach and the player in the main media room to conclude the two-hour session.
LSU took the day off from practice and will resume practice in preparation for the season opener on Nov. 13 against Louisiana-Monroe. The Tigers were picked fourth in the Western Division for the coming season and Mitchell was named a second-team pre-season selection after earning first-team honors as a junior a year ago as the Tigers won the 2009 SEC regular season championship.
LSU will host a free evening of autographs and basketball on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Maravich Center beginning at 6 p.m. There will be an hour autograph session followed by comments from Coach Johnson at 7 p.m. and a Purple-Gold scrimmage of at least 20 minutes at approximately 7:15 p.m.
Season tickets and mini-plans for the 2009-10 season remain on sale online at LSUsports.net and at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.
Here are just a few of the comments from Coach Johnson and Mitchell at Media Day:
Men’s Head Coach Trent Johnson
On the strength of the SEC…
“Obviously, the league was very young last year and many coaches, including myself, made that comment last year, but it is still very young. But, it is a very tough conference. We were a very good team last year, but this is a new season and a much different team. For me and the players, we are just looking forward to the challenges that this league presents.”
On senior forward Tasmin Mitchell…
“We are very excited about Tasmin Mitchell. Never before have I seen someone as committed to his school and his program as much as Tasmin is. As good as he was last year, he is even better this year. He is one of the best players on this team, in this conference and potentially in the country.”
On relationship with Georgia head coach Mark Fox…
“I would not say that I have many great friends in this business or in life, but I would consider Mark Fox one of my greatest friends. I think the world of Coach Fox and think that he is going to do a great job in this conference. No matter how nasty we may get when we compete, we will still be the best of friends.”
Tasmin Mitchell, F, Sr.
On if the team feels slighted by Kentucky’s media coverage…
“We don’t feel slighted at all. They have the No. 1 recruiting class and a good coach (John Calipari) coming in. Of course the media is going to talk about them. We do not feel intimidated or neglected at all.”
On how this year’s team compares to last year’s team…
“This is a whole new team. We lost some great guys last year, but this is another team. We are trying to make our own identity. Last year was a great year and we had a great run.”