Green Pre-Season All-SEC Basketball

The Alabama men’s basketball team of Coach Anthony Grant was picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference Western Division in a vote of select media members. Crimson Tide junior forward JaMychal Green was selected pre-season second team All-SEC.

Last year Alabama finished fourth in the SEC Western Division with a 6-10 record. The Crimson Tide was 17-15 overall.

JaMychal Green is a 6-8, 230-pound forward from Montgomery who averaged 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per year as a sophomore last season.

Florida was predicted to win the 2011 SEC men’s basketball championship in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members. Each SEC school selected media members that cover their team and additional writers from across the nation were selected by the conference office to form the voting panel.

The Gators are coming off a 21-13 season and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They earned eight first-place votes, topping Mississippi State which earned three votes. Tennessee and Kentucky each received two votes and Georgia garnered one vote as SEC Champion. Florida returns all five starters, including Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin while adding one of the top recruiting classes in the nation.

Florida was the media’s favorite to win the East with 110 total points (13 first-place votes), ahead of second-place Kentucky’s 95 points (three first-place votes). Georgia (72 points) and Tennessee (71 points) were separated by just one point while Vanderbilt and South Carolina rounded out the top six.

In the West, Mississippi State’s 118 total points (18 first-place votes) were ahead of Ole Miss’ 84 points (two first-place votes). Alabama was picked third with 82 points. Arkansas, LSU and Auburn round out the top six in the West.

Georgia junior Trey Thompkins was the choice of the media for SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year with 18 votes. Ole Miss senior Chris Warren (one vote) and Kentucky Freshman Brandon Knight (one vote) also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.

Thompkins, Warren and Knight were joined on the Pre-SeasonAll-SEC Team by Georgia junior Travis Leslie and Vanderbilt junior Jeffery Taylor.

Arkansas’ Marshawn Powell led All-SEC second team honors and was joined by Florida’s Boynton and Parsons, Alabama’s JaMychal Green, and Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson.

The 2010-11 SEC Media Preseason Poll tips off SEC Basketball Media Day, October 21 at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover. The 2010-11 season begins November 12, with conference play set to begin January 8. The 2011 SEC Tournament will be held March 10-13 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.