BATON ROUGE – Howard Carter, a star on the 1981 NCAA Final Four team and the fourth leading scorer in LSU history, will be one of the 12 former greats from the Southeastern Conference member institutions, making up the 2011 class of SEC Basketball Legends at the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, March 10-13 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga.
“The SEC Basketball Legends Program allows us to honor our past and show everyone why the SEC is one of the nation’s premier basketball conferences,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.
Carter, who lettered from 1980-83, was a Baton Rouge native who rose to stardom at his hometown university as a four-year starter on the LSU team, including his sophomore season when the 1981 team went to the NCAA Final Four. A McDonald’s All-American, Carter delivered immediately for the Tigers, averaging 10.5 points for LSU. From there he averaged 16.0 points as a sophomore in the 1981 Final Four season, 16.7 points as a junior and 17.6 points as a senior in the days before his long-range shot would have counted for three points.
He was named second team All-America in both 1982 and 1983 and was selected first-team All-SEC in both of those years. Carter finished his career with 1,942 points in 128 games, ranking third all-time in scoring at LSU until last season when he was bumped a spot to fourth. One of the most impressive stats is that he started every game of his career at LSU, a rarity even then in college basketball. He also ranks 23rd all-time in assists at LSU with 225. Carter posted a single game career high of 33 points in 1981 against Auburn and is third all-time at LSU in field goals made (806) and minutes played (4,276).
Other members of the 2011 class includes: Robert Horry, Alabama; George Kok, Arkansas; Jimmy Fibbe, Auburn; Craig Brown, Florida; Walter Daniels, Georgia; Kevin Grevey, Kentucky; Bob Weltlich, Ole Miss; Darryl Wilson, Mississippi State; BJ McKie, South Carolina; Jimmy England, Tennessee and Jeff Turner, Vanderbilt.
Each SEC Basketball Legend will be recognized at halftime of his institution’s first game at the tournament.
Highlighting the schedule of events at the Sunkist Soda SEC FanFare will be appearances by selected legends. FanFare will be open Thursday-Saturday, March 10-12.
This marks the 13th year of the SEC Basketball Legends program.
Last year’s group included Charles Cleveland, Alabama; Jim Counce, Arkansas; Chuck Person, Auburn; Bob Emrick, Florida; Tom Brennan, Georgia; Joe B. Hall, Kentucky; Ned Clark, LSU; Cob Jarvis, Ole Miss; Kermit Davis, Mississippi State; Melvin Watson, South Carolina; Don DeVoe, Tennessee and Ronnie McMahan, Vanderbilt.