No one asked for it, but why let that stop this presentation of an all-Southeastern Conference ballot?
The first team
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky: Pound for pound, he is arguably the best Kentucky player in the last 30 years.
Ulis has done it all for UK. Scoring. Passing. Defending. Leading.
Going into this weekend, Ulis was averaging more minutes (36.8) than any Kentucky player in at least the last 35 years. Kenny Walker averaged 36.7 minutes in 1984-85.
At 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, his stamina is astounding.
ESPN commentator Dick Vitale has become a believer. In the preseason, Vitale wondered aloud if increased minutes this season would make Ulis’ size a detriment.
On a teleconference last week, Vitale gushed about the UK point guard’s “winner’s mentality,” which is reflected in a 22.8-point average against ranked opponents. Vitale also saluted the almost four-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio (207-57), the clutch shooting and court presence.
Providence fans criticized Vitale’s decision to put Ulis, not the Friars’ Kris Dunn, on his All-America team. Vitale was unfazed.
“He can play for me any day of the week, man,” Vitale said of Ulis. “He’s a giant when the rock is in his hand.”
Jamal Murray, Kentucky: “Got to be one of the best two-guards in America,” Florida Coach Mike White said.
Of the four highest-scoring games by a UK player in John Calipari’s seven seasons as coach, Murray has three of them. His 35 points against Florida last month equaled the record set by Terrence Jones in 2011.
Murray’s 33 points against Ohio State and 33 points at Vanderbilt are the next highest-scoring games.
Murray has reduced his turnovers. His six highest turnover games this season came before the middle of January. He’s increased the times getting to the foul line by driving assertively (38 free-throw attempts in the last five games going into the LSU game).
Ben Simmons, LSU: It’s never easy living up to the recruiting hype enveloping one of the most highly rated prospects. LSU made a quiet transition to college impossible by basing its season-ticket sales campaign on a Simmons’ messianic arrival.
Simmons did not wilt under the pressure. He’s a finalist for the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Player and Freshman of the Year awards.
Going into Rupp Arena, Simmons had had six games with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
According to Sports-Reference.com, that was the fourth-highest total for any player in a season this decade. Only Michigan State’s Draymond Green (10 in 2011-12), Towson’s Jerrelle Benimon (seven in 2013-1) and Central Florida’s Isaiah Sykes (seven in 2013-14) had more.
Simmons was also poised to become the first SEC player to rank among the league’s top five in scoring, rebounding and assists. The SEC began keeping assists as an official statistic in 1968-69.
As for the season-ticket campaign, Simmons had a big impact there, too. Eight of the top 20 crowds in the revamped Maravich Center (revamped in 2006) have come this season. That includes the second-largest crowd — 13,882 — that saw LSU lose to Oklahoma.
LSU also drew 200,000 fans for its home schedule for only the second time since 1991-92.
Retin Obasohan, Alabama: Obasohan is an example of how dramatically a player can change from one year to the next, which should be a cautionary tale for everyone who puts great stock in player ratings.
He has nearly tripled his scoring average from last season: from 6.2 points to 17.8 points this season going into Saturday’s game at Georgia. His rebound average jumped from 2.9 to 4.0 per game. His assists rose from 0.8 to 2.6. His minutes increased from 19.5 minutes to 32.6.
Obasohan’s on-court presence went from just another player to what Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland called a Nick Saban running back.
Obasohan needed to score four points at Georgia to maintain an average of 20 per SEC game. The last Alabama player to do that was Buck Johnson (20.4 ppg) in 1985-86.
No SEC guard had shot better than, Obasohan’s 47.7-percent accuracy.
Michael Carrera, South Carolina: The coaches always talk about effort. Carrera delivered it.
He became the 43rd member of South Carolina’s 1,000-point club. He’s one of only seven Gamecocks to score 1,000 points and grab 700 rebounds in his career.
The second team
Stefan Moody, Mississippi. Cinmeon Bowers, Auburn. Jalen Jones, Texas A&M. Kevin Punter, Tennessee. And Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida.
Top honors
Player of the Year: Ulis.
Coach of the Year: Avery Johnson, Alabama.
Plenty of good options for the league’s top coach. John Calipari of Kentucky and Billy Kennedy of Texas A&M for guiding their teams to the top of the standings. Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt and Ben Howland of Mississippi State for keeping their players believing. Frank Martin of South Carolina for bringing a long-term rebuild to fruition.
But Johnson is the choice. He instilled new life in Alabama basketball. The Tide set a home attendance record in his first season with an average increase of about 3,000 fans per game.
A self-described people person, Johnson’s upbeat and unguarded personality was infectious. He gives the league more NBA credibility.
Still a contentious issue
No matter how the issue of one-and-done players seems like settled basketball law, it continues stirring passions.
During Friday’s news conference, John Calipari launched an animated defense of the one-and-done players, which, of course, are a foundational piece of his Kentucky program.
Some might argue that college athletics should be about education and not about future careers in professional leagues, the UK coach said.
“The reality of it is I think our community says, ‘Let’s be about these kids,’” Calipari said. The professional ambitions of players are more important than the college programs.
Meanwhile, on a mid-week ESPN-sponsored teleconference, Dick Vitale recoiled from the concept of one-and-done players.
Vitale praised Virginia senior guard Malcolm Brogdon as an example of a true student-athlete.
“With one-and-done, which I can’t tolerate, that violates everything about that term,” Vitale said. “Anybody one-and-done, you know what they’re thinking. They’re thinking the cash register. Ding-a-ling-ding. Get some cash. Play in college. Get my stock to go up and I’m off and gone.”
Bipartisanship
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on a recruiting visit to Arkansas on Thursday.
Here’s an excerpt:
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he missed out on most of Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate, but got plenty of entertainment watching a game of high school basketball with University of Kentucky Coach John Calipari.
The governor and championship-winning coach ran into each other watching Bentonville beat West Memphis … The governor’s grandson, also named Asa Hutchinson, is a teammate of Kentucky signee Malik Monk at Bentonville.
“He’s such a gracious person; I was excited about the basketball, but he wanted to talk politics actually … ,” Hutchinson said of Calipari. “It was good to be with him and good to have him in Arkansas, as long as he doesn’t take any more Razorback recruits.”
Vitale tabs Ulis
ESPN commentator Dick Vitale announced his all-America team during the Kentucky-Florida telecast. In case you missed it, UK point guard Tyler Ulis made the team.
Others on Vitale’s all-America team were Buddy Hield of Oklahoma, Denzel Valentine of Michigan State, Ben Simmons of LSU and Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia.
Vitale named Chris Mack of Xavier as Coach of the Year, Hield as Player of Year and Simmons as Freshman of Year.
Attendance slips
Columnist Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported last week that Tennessee home attendance declined for a seventh straight season.
“I think coming into this year our fans had a little bit of fatigue with three coaches in three years,” Tennessee Senior Associate A.D. Chris Fuller told Strange.
That was Cuonzo Martin in 2013-14, Donnie Tyndall in 2014-15 and Rick Barnes this season.
Strange noted that since Bruce Pearl left in 2011, Tennessee attendance has decreased by about 4,700 per game.
On the plus side, Tennessee still ranked third among SEC teams in home attendance and in the nation’s top 25.
‘Almost laughable’
If Missouri lost to Florida on Saturday night, the Tigers would finish with a 3-15 SEC record for a second straight season. That would make Coach Kim Anderson’s two-year record 6-30, which apparently prompted questions about his rebuilding effort.
During the SEC teleconference last week, coaches were asked if two seasons was enough time to draw conclusions.
“That would be almost laughable, to me, to even have to think about that,” Vandy Coach Kevin Stallings said. “When you take over something that is decimated, which is what Kim took over, anybody who thinks you can resurrect that in two years has never, ever, ever put a whistle around their neck and tried to coach or build a basketball program.
“It’s absurd to think anything less than that. It takes four, sometimes five years just to get things put in place.”
Vitale charity
The 11th annual Dick Vitale Gala will be May 13 at The Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Fla.
The event is a fund-raiser to help fight pediatric cancer.
Vitale said that 40 cents of every dollar raised goes to research to find a cure for cancers that affect children. Other charity efforts do not target such cancers, Vitale said. He found that deplorable.
The goal is to raise $2.5 million. The event raised $2.38 million last year. In its first 10 years, the annual gala has raised $15.1 million.
This year’s honorees will be Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts and retired Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan.
Reservations can be made by calling 941-350-0580. More information is available at dickvitaleonline.com or dickvitalegala.org.
Happy birthday
To Tom Leach. He turned 55 on Thursday. … To Dale Barnstable. He turned 91 on Friday. … To Shaquille O’Neal. He turns 44 on Sunday (today).
Jerry Tipton: 859-231-3227, @JerryTipton
This story was originally published March 05, 2016 5:08 PM.