BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The LSU Lady Tigers were picked second in the annual preseason poll of media members on hand Wednesday for the league’s annual “Basketball Tipoff” media day at the Birmingham Sheraton Civic Center.
The Lady Tigers, who received five of 32 votes as league champions, were second with 110 points, behind Tennessee, the perennial league favorite. The Lady Vols were voted first on the other 27 ballots and totaled 37 points. Vanderbilt was third with 130 points, narrowly edging out fourth choice Georgia with 135.
From there, the voting drops off to Mississippi State in fifth (194), followed by Arkansas (196), South Carolina (228), Florida (233), Alabama (285), Auburn (290), Kentucky (333) and Ole Miss (351).
LSU guard Temeka Johnson was named on 12 ballots earning one of the six pre-season media selections for first-team All-SEC, including one vote for player of the year. Johnson, a junior from New Orleans, averaged 11.1 points and 7.5 assists per game last year for the Lady Tigers, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Joining Johnson on the first team were LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State, Kara Lawson of Tennessee, Chantelle Anderson of Vanderbilt, Kara Braxton of Georgia and Jocelyn Penn of South Carolina. Thomas and Lawson were named on the most ballots, 28. Braxton and Penn tied for the final spot on the first team. Anderson of Vandy was named on 14 ballots to be the league’s Player of the Year.
LSU’s Aiysha Smith, a senior from Detroit who averaged 15.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest a year ago, was named to the preseason second-team All-SEC.
The Lady Tigers open exhibition play at the PMAC on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. against the Basketball Travelers.
Men’s Basketball
The LSU men’s basketball team picked up its highest preseason ranking in years at the “Basketball Tipoff” event.
The LSU men are picked to finish third in the Western Division of the SEC. The Tigers finished with 126 points in the voting on 40 ballots. Alabama, the choice of 30 ballots to finish first in the West, had 54 points and Mississippi State was second with 93 points and eight divisional first place votes. Ole Miss, picked first on one ballot, was fourth with 143 points, followed by Arkansas (211) and Auburn (213, and one first place vote).
On the Eastern side, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky split the 40 votes with Florida on top with 59 points, followed closely by Georgia (87) and Kentucky (99). The voters then picked South Carolina fourth (180) with Tennessee fifth (190) and Vanderbilt sixth (225).
Alabama was picked by 20 voters to win the league with Florida and Georgia on four ballots each to capture the overall crown.
The first-team All-SEC chosen by the media was Erwin Dudley of Alabama, Mario Austin of Mississippi State, Jarvis Hayes of Georgia, Maurice Williams of Alabama and Brett Nelson of Florida.
Just missing by one vote of making the first team was LSU’s Ronald Dupree, the senior from Biloxi who averaged 16.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last year. Dupree earned second-team All-SEC honors for the second straight season.
The Tigers, who advanced to the second round of the NIT a year ago and won seven of their final 11 games, open their exhibition season Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. in the PMAC against a team from Global Sports.
Editor’s Note: This story was compiled from an LSU Sports Information press release.