Antonio Blakeney named Preseason Second Team All-SEC

By CODY WORSHAM
Tiger Rag Editor

The SEC announced its preseason awards at the start of Basketball Media Days on Wednesday, and the news was half good, half bad for LSU.

The good news: sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney, named yesterday to the Jerry West Award Watch List, was selected as Preseason Second Team All-SEC.

The bad news: LSU was picked to finish 12th in the league.

Blakeney, a Freshman All-SEC in 2015-16, averaged 12.6 points per game in his debut season, upping that number to 14.2 points per game in conference and 18.6 points per game over LSU’s last 11 games. The Sarasota, Fla. native entered his name into the NBA Draft pool during the offseason but quickly withdrew, focusing his efforts this summer on the Tigers.

The media, which voted on a 14-12-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, was not as high on Blakeney’s team, picking LSU to finish ahead of only Tennessee and Missouri. Kentucky was selected to win the league for the 12th time since 1999, and Arkansas’s Moses Kingsley earned Preseason SEC Player of the Year honors.

Here are the results of the poll.

Preseason Media Poll

1. Kentucky
2. Florida
3. Texas A&M
4. Georgia
5. Arkansas
6. Vanderbilt
7. Alabama
8. South Carolina
9. Ole Miss
10. Mississippi State
11. Auburn
12. LSU
13. Tennessee
14. Missouri

First Team All‐SEC
Moses Kingsley – Arkansas, F, 6‐10, 230, Sr., Abuja, Nigeria
J.J. Frazier – Georgia, G, 5‐10, 155, Sr., Glennville, Ga.
Edrice “Bam” Adebayo – Kentucky, F, 6‐10, 260, Fr., Little Washington, N.C.
De’Aaron Fox – Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 187, Fr., Houston, Texas
Tyler Davis – Texas A&M, C, 6‐10, 270, So., Plano, Texas

Second Team All‐SEC
KeVaughn Allen – Florida, G, 6‐2, 183, So., Little Rock, Ark.
Yante Maten – Georgia, F, 6‐8, 240, Jr., Pontiac, Mich.
Isaiah Briscoe – Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 210, So., Newark, N.J.
Malik Monk – Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 200, Fr., Lepanto, Ark.
Antonio Blakeney – LSU, G, 6‐4, 190, So., Sarasota, Fla.
Quinndary Weatherspoon – Mississippi State, G, 6‐4, 202, So., Canton, Miss.
Luke Kornet – Vanderbilt, F, 7‐1, 250, Sr., Lantana, Texas

SEC Player of the Year: Moses Kingsley, Arkansas