Media picks Kentucky as 2019 SEC Champion



Photo: Fred Daniels

Birmingham, Ala. - Kentucky was predicted to win the 2019 Southeastern Conference men's basketball championship in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.

The Wildcats are the overall preseason favorite for the 14th time since the 1998-99 season.

Tennessee junior forward Grant Williams was the choice of the media for SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Auburn's Bryce Brown; Florida's Jalen Hudson; Kentucky's Keldon Johnson, Reid Travis & PJ Washington; LSU's Tremont Waters, Mississippi State's Quinndary Weatherspoon; South Carolina's Chris Silva and Tennessee's Admiral Schofield also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.

Travis, Waters, Silva, Williams and Arkansas' Daniel Gafford were each All-SEC First Team selections. Brown, Hudson, Washington, Weatherspoon and Schofield were second team picks along with Auburn's Jared Harper and Missouri's Jontay Porter. Points were compiled on a 14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Each media member also voted for a five-player All-SEC Team. Ties were not broken.

The 2018-19 campaign begins November 6, with conference play set to begin January 5. The 2019 SEC Tournament will be March 13-17 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

Preseason Media Poll

Kentucky Tennessee Auburn Mississippi State Florida LSU Alabama Vanderbilt Missouri Arkansas South Carolina Texas A&M Georgia Ole Miss

First Team All-SEC

Daniel Gafford - Arkansas

Reid Travis - Kentucky

Tremont Waters - LSU

Chris Silva - South Carolina

Grant Williams - Tennessee

Second Team All-SEC

Bryce Brown - Auburn

Jared Harper - Auburn

Jalen Hudson - Florida

PJ Washington - Kentucky

Quinndary Weatherspoon - Mississippi State

Jontay Porter - Missouri

Admiral Schofield - Tennessee