If you still have any doubts about what kind of coaching job that Mark Pope did this year at Kentucky, take a look at the All-Southeastern Conference Teams selected by the league coaches.
Junior Otega Oweh was a second-team pick and the only UK player named to the three teams. If that’s not enough, UK did not have a player on the all-defensive team or the all-freshman team.
Auburn’s Bruce Pearl was coach of the year and his star center, Johnni Broome, was the player of the year. Chad Baker-Mazara of Auburn was a third-team pick and teammate Denver Jones was named to the all-defensive team. Tahaad Pettiford of Auburn was one of five named to the all-freshman team.
Oweh certainly deserved his spot among the league’s elite players. He leads UK in scoring at 16.2 points per game and scored in 26 straight games to start the season, something no other SEC player did. Oweh has scored in double figures 29 games and had 11 games with 20 or more points.
Oweh has also been a defensive disruptor and leads the Wildcats with 48 steals and has 16 games with two or more steals.
Oweh is averaging career bests in scoring (16.2), rebounds (4.8), assists (1.6), steals (1.5) and blocks per game (0.5).
His best performance came in a win at Oklahoma when he scored UK’s last 18 points and hit the game-winning shots with six seconds to play and then blocked Oklahoma’s final shot.
Kentucky starts SEC Tournament play Thursday at about 9:30 p.m. EST on the SEC Network against the Oklahoma-Georgia winner.
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Here is the complete list of players honored by the SEC Monday:
First Team
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Mark Sears, Alabama
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
Second Team
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Tre Johnson, Texas
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Third Team
Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn
Alex Condon, Florida
Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss
All-Defensive Team
Denver Jones, Auburn
Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee
Cameron Matthews, Mississippi State
Anthony Robinson II, Missouri
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
All-Freshman Team
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Tre Johnson, Texas
Asa Newell, Georgia
Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Labaron Philon, Alabama
Other Honors
Coach of the Year: Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Player of the Year: Johni Broome, Auburn
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, South Carolina
Newcomer of the Year: Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Freshman of the Year: Tre Johnson, Texas
Sixth-Man of the Year: Caleb Grill, Missouri
Defensive Player of the Year: Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
4 Responses
Yes, that says a lot about the job that Coach Pope has done this year regardless of what happens in the tournaments. I am sure that the Calipari lovers who are still crying their eyes out over the FRAUD being in Fayetteville will have something different to say.
I think Williams got snub, in my opinion he’s the 2nd best center in the league behind Broome
We’ve got bigger fish to fry
I think besides Williams maybe being the newcomer of the year or 2nd team all SEC kinda sucked but we’ve had a pretty much balanced team. I would rather win games then players get personal accolades. My biggest question is will Otega Oweh come back and play one more year?! If he has even a average tournament I think he could be a late second round pick. The NBA teams might tell him he needs to work on his jump shot if he comes back another year. Its been a long time since someone averaged 16 ppg at Kentucky and came back. Maybe Oscar was the last person to do it. I think he could help his own game out by coming back another year. The SEC won’t be as good next year as it is this year. That’s pretty much impossible. A ton of guys came back that usually wouldn’t come back but I think you will see more and more of that with the NIL money. If Oweh does come back he will be preseason first team all SEC. He will probably be first or second team all american. Florida got alot of players back. Alabama got alot of players back Auburn got alot of players back and that’s why they pretty much dominated the confrence. We will have similar results next year if Oweh Garrison Chandler Perry and Noah come back which I think everyone ends up coming back. 5 guys coming back that know the system and all 5 should be a little better than they are this year. Put them 5 with the 3 incoming freshman we have coming in and were sitting at 8 guys next year. I think Pope will go after at least 1 more freshman or someone from overseas. That means we can pretty much pick and choose who we want in the portal. At this point I would think we need 2 very good guards and maybe a wing and another post player. Garrison will probably start at the 5 but you could also start him as a stretch 4. I think he’s hit as many maybe more 3 pointers than Carr has this year which really surprised me. Moreno will be a freshman but he’s the #1 Center in high school. He’s above average at both defense and offense. I can see him backing Garrison up in year #1. Or maybe playing alongside Moreno. We definitely need to bring in at least 1 maybe 2 more bigs. Then you can fill our roster out. I think if Kerr Kriisa comes back we will be good at the point as well. But I would go after a couple of superstars in the portal.