HOOVER, Ala. — LSU head coaches Trent Johnson and Nikki Caldwell and student-athletes Ralston Turner and Courtney Jones will speak to regional and national media members on Thursday at Southeastern Conference Basketball Media Day at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala.
LSU is part of the second session of Tipoff 2012 and is paired with Mississippi State and Vanderbilt from 10:10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. SECsports.com will have live streaming interviews throughout the day in its digital media room. Fans can watch LSU at the following times on SECsports.com:
10:20 a.m. – Ralston Turner
10:30 a.m. – Head coach Nikki Caldwell
10:50 a.m. – Courtney Jones
11 a.m. – Head coach Trent Johnson
Several media members from across the Southeast and nation will also be in attendance. In addition, Johnson, Caldwell, Turner and Jones will do interviews with ESPN, Fox Sports South, Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) and Sirius/XM radio that will be used throughout the season.
LSU’s Garrett Walvoord will be on hand shooting behind the scenes video for LSUsports.net. Fans can follow SEC Media Day on each team’s respective Facebook and Twitter sites: @LSUBasketball, @LSUwbkb, www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb.
Coach Johnson enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Tigers and his 14th as a Division I head coach with stops at Nevada, Stanford and LSU. The 2009 SEC Coach of the Year has a 49-49 record at LSU and enters the 2011-12 season with a second straight strong recruiting class that this year’s features a McDonald’s and Parade All-American in Johnny O’Bryant III and Kentucky Mr. Basketball Anthony Hickey.
Turner, an Alabama native from Muscle Shoals, led the team in scoring a year ago as 12.3 points per game, earning a spot on the Coaches All-SEC Freshman team, this despite missing the first five games of league played with an injury.
Caldwell enters her first season as head coach of the Lady Tigers after three successful seasons at UCLA where she produced a 72-26 record, two NCAA Tournament appearances and elite recruiting classes. Caldwell returns to the SEC after serving as an assistant coach at Tennessee for six seasons under Pat Summitt.
Jones, a native of nearby Midfield, Ala., heads into her final season as one of LSU’s senior leaders. Jones owns 17 career double-figure scoring games and she averaged 5.8 points and 3.5 rebounds coming off the bench last season.
Season tickets for the men’s and women’s teams are on sale now at LSUtix.net, by phone at 1-800-960-TKTS or 225-578-2184 or in person at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office on the first floor of the LSU Athletic Administration Building.
Current season ticket holders can receive 10 percent of purchased price back towards his/her basketball account for next year by referring someone to purchase new season tickets.