BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The University of Kentucky and Mississippi State senior guard Dee Bost earned places on the first tier Monday.
Media members picked Kentucky to finish first in the Southeastern Conference preseason men’s basketball poll and made Bost a preseason first-team All-SEC pick.
Last year, Bost was named second team All-SEC. The senior from Concord, N.C., who was voted co-captain earlier this month, averaged 15.3 points last year and had a league-best 106 assists.
“It’s nice to recognized, but my focus is on what our team accomplishes,” said Bost, whose 450 career assists are 65 shy of the school record. “We have the talent to have a special year.”
Alabama’s JaMychal Green, Kentucky’s Terrence Jones, the preseason player of the year, and Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins and Jeffrey Taylor also were named first team All-SEC.
Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Doron Lamb, and Darius Miller, Florida’s Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker, and Vanderbilt’s Festus Ezeli were named second team All-SEC.
Mississippi State received 191 points and was picked to finish fifth behind Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Alabama.
Kentucky is coming off a 29-9 season that saw it advance to the NCAA Final Four. It earned 18 first-place votes. Vanderbilt earned four first-place votes, while Florida received one vote.
Arkansas, Ole Miss, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, and South Carolina rounded out the rest of the league.
MSU, which finished 17-14 last season, opens exhibition play at 2 p.m. Saturday against Florida Tech at Humphrey Coliseum. It will open its regular season Nov. 7 at home against Eastern Kentucky.
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