SEC awards by the AP
The Associated Press writers awards for the SEC men’s basketball season have been released, and went as expected.
South Carolina’s Devan Downey was named to the league’s first team, becoming the only Gamecock besides BJ McKie to be named to the first team three separate times. But Downey again came up short in the player of the year voting.
Kentucky’s John Wall won player and newcomer of the year, while Kentucky’s John Calipari was coach of the year. That deviated a bit from the coaches, who voted Wall as the POY but for some reason not as the freshman of the year, and who gave Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings the COY.
Wall, Downey and Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins were unanimous choices to the first team. (Cousins was the coaches pick for freshman of the year.)
The other first-teamers were Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado and Georgia’s Trey Thompkins.
The second team was center Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), forwards Wayne Chism (Tennessee) and Tasmin Mitchell (LSU) and guards Jermaine Beal (Vanderbilt) and Chris Warren (Mississippi).
I had a ballot, and my voting went along with the consensus with one exception: I had Vanderbilt’s Jeffery Taylor on the second team over Mitchell.
Yes, I thought long and hard about voting for Downey for player of the year. I voted for him last year, when Patterson won it. But while Downey had a better individual year, Wall simply had too much going for him: fourth in the league in scoring, first in assists and the leading force on a team that won the league’s regular-season and tournament championships.
5 Comments to “SEC awards by the AP”
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State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
Seth,
Big mistake to vote for Wall for POY. You are not as smart as I thought.
Seth I understand your POY voting and for the most part and I agree. At some point you have to factor wins and losses into the equation and there’s no denying that a freshamn lead Wildcats team swept the SEC regular season and tourney championships not to mention compiling a pretty impressive win loss record into the NCAA’s as a #1 seed. I can’t argue your vote, Wall deserves the nod. Vandy’s Taylor is highly regarded in the NBA circles and should have been a second team selection as you mentioned. Patterson who was last year’s recipiant and I feel the most important player on the Wildcats should have been selected to the first team giving the Wildcats 3 1st team selections. Thompkins played really well this season and is also a NBA prospect but not a top 10 pick this year as is Wall, Cousins, and Patterson. Thompkins should have been a 2nd team selection. Lastly regarding your lead article on the main page I think you did a fantastic job on your synopsis of next year’s team. If I may add, USC’s website lists Malik Cooke as 6′6 210lbs as opposed to the 6′5 listing you stated in your article.
Yeah, Wall had more going for him than Downey. Downey only led the league in scoring, was first in steel and was 1st team all SEC Defensive Team. Boy, the comparison is overwhelming.
I meant “steals.”
Wall was unanimous Player of Year…Downey is a nice player but not in Wall’s league..UK is Back and in a BIG way..Big Blue nation rules the SEC..as always