The LSU men’s basketball team was selected to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference in 2013 by the media according to the league-wide poll released Wednesday.
The top three spots were awarded to traditional SEC powerhouses Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee. The Tigers made a giant leap from last year’s preseason polls, as they were picked to finish 11th out of 14 teams in 2012.
LSU captured the No. 9 seed and made a quarterfinal appearance in the SEC Tournament last year after posting a 19-12 record with a 9-9 conference mark. But improvement is expected in the second year of the Johnny Jones era as the Tigers boast a strong core of returning starters bolstered by a top-10 recruiting class.
One of the returning starters is junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III, who received three votes as preseason SEC Player of the Year and was pegged by the media as a preseason First Team All-SEC performer. During his 2012 campaign, O’Bryant amassed 15 double-doubles and 13.6 points per game to earn a spot on the coaches’ First Team All-SEC squad.