SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE 1-26 THROUGH THE YEARS 63-82 TOURNAMENTS & RANKINGS 131-160 A Legacy of Champions . 2-5 National Champions / SEC Champions . 64 SEC Tournament Champions and Standings. 132 The Standard of Excellence . .4-9 All-Time SEC Standings / All-Time Records . 65 SEC Tournament Records Breakdown. 133 Commissioner Greg Sankey . .8-11 Annual Standings . 66-73 SEC Tournament Individual and Team Records . 134 SEC Staff . 12 National Statistical Champions . 74 SEC Tournament Single-Game Superlatives . 135 SECU: The Academic Initiative of the SEC. 13 Annual SEC Team Statistical Leaders . .75-78 SEC Tournament Results . .136-140 SEC Milestones . 12-15 Annual SEC Individual Statistical Leaders . 79-81 SEC Tournament Attendance Records. 141 SEC Media Services. 16 National Attendance Figures . 82 SEC Tournament Annual Attendance . .142-143 SEC Corporate Sponsors/Licensing Program . 17 SEC All-Tournament Teams . .144-145 The SEC Network . .16-19 RECORD BOOK 83-104 SEC Tournament Leading Scorers . 146 Composite Schedule . 18-22 SEC Individual Records . 84-93 SEC Tournament Seedings. 146 SEC Tournament. 22-25 SEC Team Records . .94-102 SEC Legends . 147 NCAA Tournament . 26 SEC Team Defensive Records. 103-104 SEC in the NCAA Tournament . 148 NCAA Tournament Appearances . 148 THE TEAMS 27-41 HONORS 105-130 NCAA Tournament Year-By-Year . 149 Alabama . 28 National / SEC Honors . 106-108 NCAA Tournament Results. 150-155 Arkansas . 29 SEC All-Americans . .109-111 NCAA Final Four Teams . 156 Auburn. 30 All-SEC Teams . 112-121 SEC in the National Invitation Tournament . 157 Florida . 31 SEC All-Freshman Teams. 122 NIT Appearances / Year-By-Year Totals. 157 Georgia . 32 SEC Freshmen/Rookies of the Week . 123 NIT Results . 158-159 Kentucky. 33 SEC Players of the Week . .124-125 Final AP & UPI Poll Appearances . 160 LSU . 34 Miscellaneous Awards. 126 Ole Miss. 35 SEC All-Defensive Teams. 126 COACHES 161-168 Mississippi State . 36 SEC Community Service Teams . 127 Winningest SEC Coaches (By Percentage). 162 Missouri . 37 SEC In The NBA Draft . 128-130 Winningest SEC Coaches (By Victories). 163 South Carolina . 38 Coaching Honors . 164-165 Tennessee. 39 SEC Championship Coaches. 166-167 Texas A&M . 40 SEC Coaches in the NCAA Tournament . 168 Vanderbilt. 41 2015-16 YEAR IN REVIEW 42-62 Standings / SEC & Postseason Tournament Results . 44 2016 Honors . 45 Miscellaneous Statistics . 46 NCAA Statistics . 47 SEC Statistical Leaders (All Games) . .48-50 SEC Statistical Leaders (SEC Games) . .51-53 2015-16 Team Statistics . .54-58 2015-16 Team Results. 59-62 CREDITS The 2016-17 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Media Guide is published by the Southeastern Conference Office, Greg Sankey, Commissioner. Permission to reprint materials in this publication, whether in whole or in part, must be obtained in writing from the editor. All information reproduced from this publication should credit the 2016-17 SEC Men’s Basketball Media Guide. Editor: Craig Pinkerton, Director of Communications Cover Design: BC Romano, Director of Video and Creative Services 1 SEC BASKETBALL “LEGACY“LEGACY OOFF CCHAMPIONS”HAMPIONS” hroughout the history of men’s college basketball, the Southeastern Conference has captured 11 NCAA Championships and four NIT titles, putting the SEC as one of the nation’s top basketball conferences. During the 2006-07 academic year the Southeastern Conference became the first conference to win the Division I T National Championship in Football (Florida), Men’s Basketball (Florida) and Women’s Basketball (Tennessee) in the same school year. Only the SEC and the Big East have ever won both the men’s and women’s basketball titles in one season. SEC won both three times in 1996, 1998 and 2007. The Big East has won both twice in 2003 and 2004. The SEC swept both the NIT and NCAA Tournaments in 2006 when Florida won its first NCAA championship and South Carolina earned its second straight NIT title. Only four conferences have won both the NIT and NCAA title, including the Big East (2003), ACC (1992) and Big Ten (1979). Florida (right) won back- to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007 2 LSU’s Ben Simmons became the fifth SEC player to be picked No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft. He is the fourth player from the SEC to be picked first in the last seven years, joining John Wall (2010), Anthony Davis (2012) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2015). Nation’s Best Coaches Nation’s Best Players • Twelve of the 14 SEC coaches have led their teams to the • Six SEC players were picked at the 2015 NBA Draft, NCAA Tournament. One not included in that list is entering including five who were chosen in the first round. his second season coaching collegiately and was previously • LSU’s Ben Simmons was drafted No. 1 overall in the named the NBA Coach of the Year while directing his team 2016 NBA Draft. He is the fifth SEC player to be picked to the NBA Finals. The other coach has directed his teams to first overall in the draft and the fourth in the last seven four postseason appearances in five years as a head coach. years. • Eight SECC cocoachesaches have taken their teams to the • The SEC’s 17 Lottery Picks since 2010 are the most Sweet 16, sevesevenn have advanced to the Elite oof any conference. The Big 12 was second with 15 and Eight and ffiveive hhaveave gone on to the Final AACC was third with 14. Four (includesdes DDivisionivision IIII).). • Over the last seven NBA Drafts, 53 SEC players have • Five SEC coacoachesches have been head coaches hheard their names called. Thirty-one of those were in the Finall FourFour ((includesincludes DIIDII)) sselected in the first round and four were the No. 1 overall with three winwinningning national ppick. championships.hips. • Kentucky (1), Mississippi State (5), Auburn (14) and • SEC coachesaches have com- TTexas A&M (24) have recruiting classes ranked in the bined to wwinin nearly TTop 25 of ESPN.com’s national rankings (as of May 6). 4,600 gameses ((4,560-4,560- AAdditionally, Georgia (38) also ranks in the top 50. 2,397). As a grgroup,oup, • Six players ranked in the Top 25 of ESPN.com’s Class they have postedposted oof 2016 rankings have signed with SEC schools (as of a winningg pper-er- MMay 6), including three of the top 10 players in the class. centage of bettbetterer • Sixteen of ESPN.com’s Top 100 players have signed than 65 percent.rcentt. wwith SEC schools in the class of 2015. Over the last two • Ole Misss headhead rrecruiting classes, SEC schools have signed 37 Top 100 coach Andyy KeKennedynnedy pplayers. is the winningestningest at his • Seven of the top 25 scorers from 2016 are slated to institution. rreturn as well as 10 of the top 20 rebounders and three • 13 of thee 14 SSECEC coaccoach-h- oof the top 10 playmakers. es have earnedrned conferenceconference coach of tthehe yyearear honors and five haveave beenbeen namednamed national coachoach oof the yearyear.. 3 Postseason Success • The SEC has had at least one team in the Final Four in six of the past 11 years. Twelve times in the last 24 years the SEC has had at least one team in the Final Four. • Six different SEC teams (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU and Mississippi State) have appeared in the Final Four. • The SEC was 3-3 in NCAA Tournament games in 2016. It is the sixth consecutive season the SEC has been .500 or better in the NCAA Tournament. It is the 55th time the league has been .500 or better in NCAA Tournament games. • The SEC has won three of the last 12 NCAA titles (2006-Florida, 2007-Florida, 2012 Kentucky). No other conference has won more titles during that stretch (ACC and Big East also have three titles). • The SEC has had at least one team advance to the Sweet 16 in 26 of the last 27 years. Thirteen of the SEC’s 14 members have advanced to the Sweet 16 since 1996. • SEC teams are 18-4 (81.8 percent) in postseason opening games over the last two years (7-0 in 2014, 6-2 in 2015 and 5-2 in 2016). • Every team in the SEC has made at least one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 12 edi- tions of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky won its eighth NCAA Championship in 2012 with a 67-59 win over Kansas. 4 The SEC introduced new Student-Athlete Leadership Councils in the sports of Football and Men’s and Women’s Basketball in which, in addition to the Conference’s longstanding Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), provide student-athletes with additional opportunities to engage with campus leaders and Conference office staff. At the group’s first meeting, the 28 student-athletes reviewed legislative items related to bas- ketball and were educated on the NCAA governance structure. The student-athletes who comprise the SEC Men’s Basketball Leadership Council are: Corban Collins, Alabama; Moses Kingsley, Arkansas; Bryce Brown, Auburn; Kevarrius Hayes, Florida; Houston Kessler, Georgia; Dominique Hawkins, Kentucky; Antonio Blakeney, LSU; Breein Tyree, Ole Miss; Quinndary Weatherspoon, Mississippi State; Terrence Phillips, Missouri; Duane Notice, South Carolina; Kyle Alexander, Tennessee; Tavario Miller, Texas A&M; Luke Kornet, Vanderbilt. Academics • 72 men’s basketball students were named to the SEC Academic Honor Rolls (Winter and First Year) for having a grade point average of 3.00 or above for either the preceding academic year or a cumu- lative grade point average of 3.00 or above. Over the last two seasons, 186 men’s basketball students have been listed on the SEC Academic Honor Rolls. • Kentucky’s Alex Poythress was named third team Academic All-America • Alabama’s Retin Obasohan, Kentucky’s Alex Poythress, South Carolina’s Mindaugas Kacinas and Vanderbilt’s Luke Kornet earned first team Academic All-District honors from CoSIDA.