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Florida's Calathes Named To AP All-SEC First Team

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TBO.com Staff Report

Published: March 16, 2009

Florida's Nick Calathes tied with two other players for the final spot on The Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference men's basketball first team.

Calathes finished with the same number of votes as LSU's Tasmin Mitchell and Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado, the MVP of the SEC tournament in Tampa, to create a seven-player All-SEC first team.

Calathes led the conference in assists (6.4) and ranked second in steals (2.0). He was Florida's leading scorer at 17.2 points a game. He also led the Gators with 67 3-pointers and was fourth on the team with 5.4 rebounds a game.

LSU senior guard Marcus Thornton was a unanimous first-team choice and was named the conference most valuable player.

Surrounded by a veteran team that includes fellow seniors Garrett Temple and Chris Johnson, along with the junior Mitchell, Thornton (20.7 points a game) led the Tigers to a 26-7 record, the SEC regular season championship at 13-3, and a spot in the NCAA's South Regional.

Also named to the All-SEC first team were the SEC's top scorer, Jodie Meeks of Kentucky (24.2), South Carolina's Devan Downey and Tennessee's Tyler Smith.

Downey was the league's third-leading scorer at 19.9 a game, also placed third in assists (4.5) and led in steals (3.0). Smith led Tennessee at 17.2 points a game. Mitchell (16.3) shared the LSU scoring load with Thornton.

Varnado is the nation's top shot blocker (4.7) and broke the SEC's season record with 165, eclipsing the mark of 157 he had shared with Shaquille O'Neal.

Mississippi freshman Terrico White was named newcomer of the year. White, who averaged 13.7 points a game in his first season at Ole Miss, was among those named to the second team, along with Kentucky's Patrick Patterson, Auburn's Korvotney Barber, Alabama's Alonzo Gee, Ole Miss' David Huertas and Arkansas' Michael Washington.

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