By CODY WORSHAM | Tiger Rag Editor
Hopes are high in Baton Rouge for the future of LSU basketball under new head coach Will Wade.
Expectations elsewhere remain low, however, as the Tigers were picked to finish 14th in the league, as voted on in the SEC basketball preseason media poll at SEC Basketball Media Day on Wednesday.
LSU features an entirely new staff as well as seven new scholarship players – including four true freshmen – while bringing back just six scholarship players from a 2016-17 team that finished 10-21 overall and 2-14 in the SEC. Brandon Sampson and Duop Reath, who will attend Wednesday’s media day event, are the Tigers’ top returning scorers, averaging 11.6 and 12.0 point per game, respectively, last season.
No Tigers finished in the voting for the SEC’s preseason All-Conference teams, either.
The media tabbed Kentucky to finish at the top of the league. The Wildcats lost three lottery picks from last season’s SEC Championship-winning team, but brings in the nation’s No.2 ranked recruiting class, per 247Sports.com, featuring five of the top 18 prospects from the 2017 class, including five-stars Kevin Knox, Hamidou Diallo, Jarred Vanderbilt, and more.
Florida finished second in the voting after reaching the Elite Eight in 2017-18, while Texas A&M, Alabama, and Missouri rounded out the top five.
The media also selected Georgia’s Yante Maten, Missouri freshman Michael Porter, and Louisiana native/Texas A&M sophomore big man Robert Williams as a three-way tie for preseason Player of the Year.
Mizzou picked 5th in preseason SEC poll pic.twitter.com/tsBLiqCriJ
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) October 18, 2017
Michael Porter Jr. named to preseason All-SEC first team, tied with Yante Maten & Robert Williams for player of the year pic.twitter.com/s5cj4eNfWa
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) October 18, 2017
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