BATON ROUGE — LSU Coach Trent Johnson and star player Marcus Thornton were honored for their performances during the 2008-09 season Saturday night at the 35th annual Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches Awards Banquet at the Embassy Suites.
Johnson received the Tommy Joe Eagles Memorial Award as Louisiana Major College Coach of the Year. In his first year, he led the Tigers to the Southeastern Conference championship, a top 20 national ranking and the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 27-8 record (tying the third most wins in school history). He was also named the SEC Coach of the Year and an NABC and USBWA District Coach of the Year, along with being a finalist for several national coach of the Year awards.
The LABC also presented the Pete Maravich Memorial Award, honoring Louisiana’s Major College Player of the Year, to senior guard Thornton of LSU. This season Thornton was an honorable mention AP All-American and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, while averaging 21.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 three-pointers. He had seven 30-point games and finished the season with 19 consecutive double figure scoring games in leading LSU to the SEC championship and the NCAA Tournament.
Former LSU Assistant Coach Mike Giorlando, now the head coach and AD at Loyola (NO) was named the Louisiana Small College Coach of the Year. Girolando directed the Wolfpack to its first national Top 25 ranking, a second place regular season finish in the GCAC and a 19-11 overall record (the school’s most wins since 1948), after being picked in the preseason to finish 7th in the GCAC.
LSU signee, Eddie Ludwig of Metairie Park Country Day, was named the Class A player of the year.