As the Southeastern Conference officially began the 2015-2016 men’s basketball season with 2016 SEC Tipoff, positive news arrived out of the Charlotte, North Carolina media session for No. 19 LSU.
Highly-touted freshman forward Ben Simmons was chosen as the league’s preseason player of the year and an All-SEC first team member. The Tigers were also selected to finish fourth in the conference, trailing No. 1 Kentucky, No. 20 Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, respectively.
Junior guard Tim Quarterman was tabbed as an All-SEC second team member, as well.
In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, LSU coach Johnny Jones said freshman guard Antonio Blakeney would not face suspension after reported involvement in the University of Louisville basketball sex scandal. The Cardinal program is being investigated for hiring escorts to offer sex to recruits on official visits.
Blakeney, who has already spoken to the NCAA about the incident, was initially committed to Louisville and allegedly had sex with an escort during a visit to campus.
“We haven’t been given any reason to be alarmed about anything in terms of him moving forward, in terms of his eligibility status because of an official visit that he may have taken to another school,” Jones told the Courier-Journal. “I’ve addressed with (the team) about making sure that they support him and make sure that they rally around him and this, too, shall pass, and it will move on. But it’s in the moment now and it’s something that he’ll grow from.”
Jones also told the Courier-Journal he didn’t ask Blakeney about specifics of reported incident but doesn’t have knowledge of all the details surrounding the guard’s discussion with the NCAA.