VandySports.com - Vandy picked 3rd in the East, Ogilvy named All-SEC

October 19, 2009

Jesse W. Johnson
VandySports.com Publisher

The annual Southeastern Conference Basketball Media Day will be held on Thursday in Birmingham but the league office released its preseason conference predictions and all-conference teams on Monday.

The Vanderbilt Commodores were picked to finish third in the Eastern Division by the selected 25-member panel of both league and national writers. Kentucky and Tennessee were picked to finish first and second ahead of the Commodores.

Vanderbilt returns all five starters from last year's 19-12 team which finished 8-8 in league play. Among the returning starters is junior center A.J. Ogilvy. The two-time All-SEC performer was also named to the All-SEC second team by the writers on Monday.

The writers tabbed the Kentucky Wildcats as the favorites to capture the 2009-2010 SEC Championship, receiving 20 of the 25 possible championship votes. Mississippi State, whom the writers voted to win the Western Division, finished second in the overall league champion vote, receiving three votes. Tennessee received the other two votes.

Kentucky junior Patrick Patterson was the choice of the media for SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year with 11 votes. Kentucky freshman John Wall (six votes), Mississippi State senior Jarvis Varnado (three votes), South Carolina senior Devan Downey (three votes) and Tennessee senior Tyler Smith (two votes) also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.

Patterson, Downey, Varnado and Smith were joined on the All-SEC First Team by Ole Miss sophomore Terrico White.

Wall led All-SEC Second Team honors and was joined by Ogilvy, LSU's Tasmin Mitchell, Ole Miss' Chris Warren and Auburn's DeWayne Reed.

Points were compiled on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for each division. Each media member also voted for one team as an overall conference champion and a five-player All-SEC Team.

Preseason Media Poll
(First-Place Votes in Parentheses; *-unanimous selection)

SEC Champion: Kentucky (20); Mississippi State (3); Tennessee (2)

Eastern Division Points
Kentucky (23) 148
Tennessee (2) 117
Vanderbilt 90
South Carolina 77
Florida 68
Georgia 25

Western Division Points
Mississippi State (22) 144
Ole Miss (2) 120
Alabama 84
LSU (1) 70
Arkansas 63
Auburn 44

FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Devan Downey, South Carolina G 5-9 175 Sr. Chester, S.C.
*Patrick Patterson, Kentucky F 6-9 235 Jr. Huntington, W.Va.
Tyler Smith, Tennessee G/F 6-7 215 Sr. Pulaski, Tenn.
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State F 6-9 230 Sr. Brownsville, Tenn.
Terrico White, Ole Miss G 6-5 211 So. Memphis, Tenn.

SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Tasmin Mitchell, LSU F 6-7 235 Sr. Denham Springs, La.
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt C 6-11 250 Jr. Sydney, Australia
DeWayne Reed, Auburn G 6-1 175 Sr. Houston, Texas
John Wall, Kentucky G 6-4 195 Fr. Raleigh, N.C.
Chris Warren, Ole Miss G 5-10 165 Jr. Orlando, Fla.

SEC Player of the Year: Patrick Patterson, Kentucky

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