BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team of Coach Johnny Jones was selected fourth in the Southeastern Conference voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members announced Wednesday as part of the SEC Media Days at the SEC Network studios in Charlotte.
Sophomore Jordan Mickey was named to the five-person first-team preseason All-SEC team as selected by the media as well.
LSU is coming off a 20 win season in 2013-14, advancing to the NIT, winning on the road at San Francisco before losing to eventual tournament runnerup SMU in the second round. Coach Jones has won 39 games in his first two seasons in Baton Rouge, the most by any head coach at LSU in their first two years as head coach.
Mickey, who was a second-team All-SEC selection and an All-Defensive SEC choice after becoming just the second Tiger in school history to block 100 shots in a season, returns along with sophomore Jarell Martin of Baton Rouge who also averaged in double figures this past season. Both were on the league’s All-Freshman team.
The Kentucky Wildcats, who are the overall preseason favorite for the 10th time since the 1998-99 season, tallied all 20 first-place votes.
Kentucky sophomore Aaron Harrison was the choice of the media for SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Aaron Harrison was one of five Wildcats that received votes in the preseason Player of the Year voting, joining Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew Harrison, Alex Poythress and Karl-Anthony Towns. Georgia’s Charles Mann, LSU’s Martin and Mickey along with Ole Miss’ Jarvis Summers also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.
Aaron Harrison, Mickey and Summers were each All-SEC First Team selections along with Arkansas’ Bobby Portis and Florida’s Michael Frazier II.
Points were compiled on a 14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Each media member also voted for a five-player All-SEC Team.
Conference play is set to begin Jan. 6. The 2015 SEC Tournament will be March 11-15 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
LSU opens its season with a free to the public exhibition game on Nov. 7 against Morehouse before opening the season on Nov. 15 against Gardner-Webb. LSU’s first conference game will be Jan. 8 at Missouri before returning to Baton Rouge to face Georgia on Jan. 10.
New season tickets and Pick 3 and Pick 5 Mini-Plans are now available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net.
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Preseason SEC Basketball Media Poll
Team, Points (First-Place Votes)
1. Kentucky, 280 (20)
2. Florida, 258
3. Arkansas, 226
4. LSU, 223
5. Georgia, 204
6. Ole Miss, 168
7. Missouri, 123
8. Auburn, 113
9. Texas A&M, 111
10. Alabama, 109
11. Vanderbilt, 89
12. South Carolina, 86
13. Tennessee, 75
14. Mississippi State, 35
Preseason First Team All-SEC
Bobby Portis – Arkansas, F, 6-11, 242, So., Little Rock, Ark.
Michael Frazier II – Florida, G, 6-4, 194, Jr., Tampa, Fla.
Aaron Harrison – Kentucky, G, 6-6, 212, So., Richmond, Texas
Jordan Mickey – LSU, F, 6-8, 235, So., Dallas, Texas
Jarvis Summers – Ole Miss, G, 6-3, 186, Sr., Jackson, Miss.
Preseason Second Team All-SEC
Charles Mann – Georgia, G, 6-5, 215, Jr., Alpharetta, Ga.
Willie Cauley-Stein – Kentucky, F, 7-0, 240, Jr., Olathe, Kan.
Andrew Harrison – Kentucky, G, 6-6, 210, So., Richmond, Texas
Alex Poythress – Kentucky, F, 6-8, 238, Jr., Clarksville, Tenn.
Karl-Anthony Towns – Kentucky, F, 6-11, 250, Fr., Piscataway, N.J.
SEC Player of the Year: Aaron Harrison, Kentucky