Trent Johnson was announced as one of 10 finalists for the 2009 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award Monday.The LSU coach grinned and offered a two-word comment about possibly winning the award. “Next question.” Johnson has led the Tigers to a 25-4 record, including 13-1 in Southeastern Conference play, in his first season at LSU. The Tigers won only 13 games last season.But he consistently defers the credit.”I’m proud of where [the players] have taken themselves,” Johnson said. “They’re the ones who chose to listen and be receptive to what we were trying to do as a staff.”The deflection of praise is routine for Johnson, who shovels the accolades off to his players after each game. The Tigers remained the SEC’s lone ranked team this week and climbed to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday after defeating Florida and Kentucky last week.The ranking is LSU’s highest since being No. 9 in the fourth poll of the 2006-2007 season. But the Tigers said they are still focused on the regular season games they have ahead of them.”We want to finish these two games,” said senior guard Garrett Temple “We don’t want to be 13-3 we want to be 15-1.”One of the players Johnson has been deflecting praise to has been senior guard Marcus Thornton.Thornton earned SEC Player of the Week honors this week after scoring a combined 55 points, grabbing 14 boards and dishing out 7 assists against Florida and Kentucky.Thornton was also named the National Player of the Week by ESPN’s Andy Katz.”Marcus Thornton might have quietly become the top contender for SEC Player of the Year,” Katz said in a news release.  Gamecocks coach also a finalistJohnson joins South Carolina coach Darrin Horn as the only other SEC coach to be a finalist for National Coach of the Year. Horn’s Gamecocks are tied with Tennessee for first place in the SEC East after preseason predictions had them finishing fifth.South Carolina hosts the Volunteers on Wednesday in a game that could be a chance for the Gamecocks to pad their resume and make the NCAA tournament. Horn said Monday his team knows what they are playing for.”I think we are playing to beat Tennessee,” Horn said on the SEC coaches’ teleconference   “Those other things are completely beyond our control.”Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun , Memphis’ John Calipari, Washington’s Lorenzo Romar, Kansas’ Bill Self, Butler’s Brad Stevens, Illinois’ Bruce Weber  and North Carolina’s Roy Williams are the other  finalist for National Coach of the Year.Commodores head to the PMACVanderbilt heads to Baton Rouge after a rollercoaster week.The Commodores lost to Georgia last Wednesday and then picked up a victory at home against South Carolina on Saturday.”I was proud of the way we responded to our performance at Georgia and how we played at South Carolina,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]