The Southeastern Conference unveiled its men's basketball coaches postseason awards Tuesday to cap off another season of SEC basketball.
Kentucky's Billy Gillispie and Tennessee's Bruce Pearl shared SEC Coach of the Year honors and Vanderbilt senior guard/forward Shan Foster was selected SEC Player of the Year by the league's coaches.
Florida's Nick Calathes and Kentucky's Patrick Patterson shared the SEC Freshman of the Year award and Georgia's Dave Bliss earned SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State was a unanimous pick as SEC Defensive Player of the Year and Tennessee's J.P. Prince earned SEC's Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Gillispie led Kentucky to a second place finish in the SEC East Division and a first-round bye at the SEC Tournament after starting the season 6-7. Pearl led Tennessee to their first No. 1 ranking in school history and UT's first outright SEC Championship since 1967.
Foster garnered SEC Player of the Year honors in leading Vanderbilt to a 25 win season and a 10-6 mark in SEC play. Foster was also a unanimous All-SEC First Team selection. He led the league in scoring with 20.6 ppg.
Calathes leads the SEC in assists. Among SEC Freshmen, he ranks first in steals, third in scoring and fifth in rebounding. Patterson ranks in the Top 10 in both scoring (ninth) and rebounding (seventh).
Among SEC Freshmen, he ranks second in scoring and rebounding. Calathes and Patterson were among six unanimous All-Freshman team members.
Bliss earned the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, sporting a 3.45 grade-point average in Political Science and Real Estate.
Varnado leads the nation in blocked shots (4.8) and is 13 blocks shy of the SEC record held by Shaquille O'Neal.
Prince won the SEC's Sixth Man of the Year award. Part of UT's deep bench, Prince chimes in with 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game..
A complete list of the 2008 SEC Men's Basketball postseason awards follows.
SEC CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR
Billy Gillispie, Kentucky
Bruce Pearl, Tennessee
SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Shan Foster, Vanderbilt
SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Dave Bliss, Georgia
SEC CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR
Nick Calathes, Florida
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky
SEC SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
J.P. Prince, Tennessee
SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State#
#-Unanimous Selection; *-Ties are not broken
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