The SEC Media type got together to cast their votes for the upcoming SEC basketball season and a couple of things are certain. They really like UK and Patrick Patterson, but seem kind of confused as to what kind of impact UK freshman John Wall will make. We’ll take a look at the individual honors in a minute, but the voters were not confused at all about who would garner the team honors.
UK received 20 of the 25 votes cast for League Champion. Mississippi State was second with 3 votes and Tennessee third with 2. Let’s take a look at how the writers saw the divisions playing out:
East
1. Kentucky (148 voter points)
2. Tennessee (117)
3. Vanderbilt (90)
4. South Carolina (77)
5. Florida (68)
6. Georgia (25)
West
1. Mississippi State (144)
2. Ole Miss (120)
3. Alabama (84)
4. LSU (70)
5. Arkansas (63)
6. Auburn (44)
Florida 5th and LSU 4th were definitely eye openers for me. I think the rapidity of Florida’s fall from grace is one of the more surprising things I have seen in college sports lately. Good thing Donovan “turned down” the UK job this year.
As for individual honors, Patrick Patterson was voted as the conference’s Player of the Year. He was also named to the First Team All SEC along with Tennessee’s Tyler Smith, South Carolina’s Devan Downey, Ole Miss’ Terrico White and Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado. One name missing in the First Team was UK’s John Wall. This comes despite Wall has been named as a candidate for National Player of the Year by some pundits (Gary Parrish, Andy Katz) so it seems pretty odd that Wall can not crack the first team ALL SEC.
What adds to the confusion on Wall is the fact that he finished second for the SEC Player of the Year, behind Patrick Patterson. So let me get this straight…. he’s the second best player in the league according to one poll, yet not one of the Top 5 in another poll of the same guys? Way to make sense, SEC sportswriters.
Not that he was totally overlooked however. Wall was named to the second team ALL SEC which albeit a little confusing, is still a great sign for UK and a huge difference from last season.
Wall did get some more national love today though from Gary Parrish. Gary Parrish named John Wall as the best point guard in the NCAA and irked Kansas’s Sherron Collins in the process. Here is what Parrish had to say about naming Wall the top PG:
Why he’s here: I’ve pretty much tied my reputation as a brilliant evaluator of talent — yes, it’s a reputation I gave myself — on the Wildcats’ star freshman. You know what? I’m OK with it. Lots of fans questioned me for naming Wall the CBSSports.com Preseason National Player of the Year, as did Collins. But I’ve had several coaches tell me I’ll end up looking smart for doing it, and I tend to trust coaches more than fans. And I trust Brett Dawson, too. He’s the Kentucky beat writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He watched UK scrimmage over the weekend and tweeted the following: “John Wall looks like nothing you’ve ever seen in blue and white. Ever.”
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