Media picks Kentucky to win 2017 SEC Championship



Photo: Team Coyle

Birmingham, Ala. - Kentucky was predicted to win the 2017 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 12th time since the 1998‐99 season. Arkansas senior forward Moses Kingsley was the choice of the media for SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Georgia's J.J. Frazier & Yante Maten; Kentucky's Edrice "Bam" Adebayo, Isaiah Briscoe, De'Aaron Fox & Malik Monk; and Texas A&M's Tyler Davis also received votes in the Player of the Year voting.

Kingsley, Frazier, Adebayo, Fox and Davis were each All‐SEC First Team selections. Maten, Briscoe and Monk were second team picks along with Florida's KeVaughn Allen, LSU's Antonio Blakeney, Mississippi State's Quinndary Weatherspoon and Vanderbilt's Luke Kornet.

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 2016‐17 campaign begins November 11, with conference play set to begin December 29. The 2017 SEC Tournament will be March 8‐12 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

Preseason Media Poll

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

First Team All‐SEC

Moses Kingsley - Arkansas, F, 6‐10, 230, Sr., Abuja, Nigeria

J.J. Frazier - Georgia, G, 5‐10, 155, Sr., Glennville, Ga.

Edrice "Bam" Adebayo - Kentucky, F, 6‐10, 260, Fr., Little Washington, N.C.

De'Aaron Fox - Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 187, Fr., Houston, Texas

Tyler Davis - Texas A&M, C, 6‐10, 270, So., Plano, Texas

Second Team All‐SEC

KeVaughn Allen - Florida, G, 6‐2, 183, So., Little Rock, Ark.

Yante Maten - Georgia, F, 6‐8, 240, Jr., Pontiac, Mich.

Isaiah Briscoe - Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 210, So., Newark, N.J.

Malik Monk - Kentucky, G, 6‐3, 200, Fr., Lepanto, Ark.

Antonio Blakeney - LSU, G, 6‐4, 190, So., Sarasota, Fla.

Quinndary Weatherspoon - Mississippi State, G, 6‐4, 202, So., Canton, Miss.

Luke Kornet - Vanderbilt, F, 7‐1, 250, Sr., Lantana, Texas