# 2009–10 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

The 2009–10 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices on October 17, 2009, and ended with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament on March 11–14, 2010 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

## Pre-season polls and teams

2009–10 SEC Men's Basketball Pre-Season Poll:
| | SEC Media |
| | SEC East |
| 1. | Kentucky |
| 2. | Tennessee |
| 3. | Vanderbilt |
| 4. | South Carolina |
| 5. | Florida |
| 6. | Georgia |
| | SEC West |
| 1. | Mississippi State |
| 2. | Ole Miss |
| 3. | Alabama |
| 4. | LSU |
| 5. | Arkansas |
| 6. | Auburn |
Pre-Season All-SEC Teams
| SEC Media | SEC Coaches |
| Devan Downey South Carolina Patrick Patterson Kentucky Tyler Smith Tennessee Jarvis Varnado Mississippi State Terrico White Ole Miss | Devan Downey South Carolina Tasmin Mitchell LSU AJ Ogilvy Vanderbilt Patrick Patterson Kentucky Tyler Smith Tennessee Jarvis Varnado Mississippi State Michael Washington Arkansas Terrico White Ole Miss |
* SEC Coaches select 8 players
* Players in bold are choices for SEC Player of the Year

## Rankings

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 |
| Alabama | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Alabama | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Arkansas | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Arkansas | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Auburn | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Auburn | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Florida | AP | RV | RV | RV | 13 | 10 | 13 | 18 | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | |
| Florida | C | RV | RV | RV | 17 | 10 | 13 | 18 | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | |
| Georgia | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Georgia | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kentucky | AP | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Kentucky | C | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| LSU | AP | | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| LSU | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mississippi State | AP | 18 | RV | RV | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | RV | | | RV | RV | RV | |
| Mississippi State | C | 19 | RV | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | |
| Ole Miss | AP | | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 21 | 22 | 18 | 25 | RV | | | | |
| Ole Miss | C | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 21 | 21 | 16 | 23 | 24 | 20 | RV | RV | | | | |
| South Carolina | AP | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| South Carolina | C | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Tennessee | AP | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 15 |
| Tennessee | C | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 13 |
| Vanderbilt | AP | RV | RV | 24 | RV | RV | | | | RV | RV | RV | 21 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 20 |
| Vanderbilt | C | RV | RV | 24 | RV | 24 | | | | | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | 24 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 23 |

## Head coaches

| School | Name | Age | Seasons | Record | Alma Mata | Hometown | Previous Positions |
| Alabama | Anthony Grant | 43 | 1 | 0–0 | Dayton | Miami, FL, U.S. | VCU |
| Arkansas | John Pelphrey | 41 | 3 | 37–28 | Kentucky | Paintsville, KY, U.S. | South Alabama |
| Auburn | Jeff Lebo | 43 | 6 | 81–76 | North Carolina | Carlisle, PA, U.S. | Tennessee Tech Chattanooga |
| Florida | Billy Donovan | 44 | 14 | 310–126 | Providence | Rockville Centre, NY, U.S. | Marshall |
| Georgia | Mark Fox | 40 | 1 | 0–0 | Eastern New Mexico | Garden City, KS, U.S. | Nevada |
| Kentucky | John Calipari | 50 | 1 | 0–0 | Clarion | Moon Township, PA, U.S. | UMass New Jersey Nets Memphis |
| LSU | Trent Johnson | 53 | 2 | 27–8 | Boise State | Berkeley, CA, U.S. | Nevada Stanford |
| Mississippi State | Rick Stansbury | 49 | 12 | 231–128 | Campbellsville | Brandenburg, KY, U.S. | |
| Ole Miss | Andy Kennedy | 41 | 4 | 82–52 | UAB | Louisville, MS, U.S. | Cincinnati |
| South Carolina | Darrin Horn | 36 | 2 | 21–10 | Western Kentucky | Glasgow, KY, U.S. | Western Kentucky |
| Tennessee | Bruce Pearl | 49 | 5 | 98–37 | Boston College | Boston, MA, U.S. | Southern Indiana UW-Milwaukee |
| Vanderbilt | Kevin Stallings | 49 | 11 | 189–128 | Purdue | Collinsville, IL, U.S. | Illinois State |

## Post season
### NCAA tournament

| # of Bids | Record | Win % | R32 | S16 | E8 | F4 | CG |
| 4 | 6–4 | .600 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | Bid Type | Seed | Results |
| Kentucky | Automatic | 1 | W 100–71 vs 16 East Tennessee State W 90–60 vs 9 Wake Forest W 62–45 vs 12 Cornell L 66–73 vs 2 West Virginia |
| Vanderbilt | At-large | 4 | L 65–66 vs 13 Murray State |
| Tennessee | At-large | 6 | W 62–59 vs 11 San Diego State W 83–68 vs 14 Ohio W 76–73 vs 2 Ohio State L 69–70 vs 5 Michigan State |
| Florida | At-large | 10 | L 92–99 (2OT) vs 10 BYU |

### National Invitation Tournament

| # of Bids | Record | Win % | R2 | R3 | SF | CG |
| 2 | 4–2 | .667 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Team | Bid Type | Seed | Results |
| Mississippi State | At-large | 1 | W 81–67 vs. 8 Jackson State L 74–76 vs. 4 North Carolina |
| Ole Miss | At-large | 2 | W 84–65 vs. 7 Troy W 90–81 vs. 3 Memphis W 90–87 (2OT) vs. 5 Texas Tech L 63–68 vs 3 Dayton |

## Highlights and notes
### 2010 Big East/SEC Invitational

| Date | SEC Team | Big East Team | Location | Outcome |
| 12/9 | Georgia | St. John's | Madison Square Garden, New York | St. John's 66–56 Big East 1–0 |
| 12/9 | Kentucky | UConn | Madison Square Garden, New York | Kentucky 64–61 Tied 1–1 |
| 12/10 | Mississippi State | DePaul | St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa | Mississippi State 76–45 SEC 2–1 |
| 12/10 | Florida | Syracuse | St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa | Syracuse 85–73 Tied 2–2 |

### Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the SEC offices named a player of the week each Monday.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| 11/16 | Rotnei Clarke, ARK | Eric Bledsoe, UK |
| 11/23 | Patrick Patterson, UK | John Wall, UK |
| 11/30 | Erving Walker, FLA | John Wall, UK (2) |
| 12/7 | A.J. Ogilvy, VANDY | John Wall, UK (3) |
| 12/14 | Ravern Johnson, MISS STATE | John Wall, UK (4) |
| 12/21 | Trey Thompkins, UGA | Reginald Buckner, MISS |
| 12/28 | JaMychal Green, BAMA | DeMarcus Cousins, UK |
| 1/4 | DeMarcus Cousins, UK | John Jenkins, VANDY |
| 1/11 | Bobby Maze, TENN | John Jenkins, VANDY (2) |
| 1/18 | Jarvis Varnado, MISS STATE | Eric Bledsoe, UK (2) |
| 1/25 | Travis Leslie, UGA | DeMarcus Cousins, UK (2) |
| 2/1 | Devan Downey, USC | Marshawn Powell, ARK |
| 2/8 | Courtney Fortson, ARK | DeMarcus Cousins, UK (3) |
| 2/15 | Jeffery Taylor, VANDY | John Wall, UK (5) |
| 2/22 | Wayne Chism, TENN | DeMarcus Cousins, UK (4) |
| 3/1 | Jarvis Varnado, MISS STATE (2) | John Jenkins, VANDY (3) |
| 3/8 | Chris Warren, MISS | Tony Mitchell, BAMA |

### Award Finalists Notes

* Bob Cousy Award: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Feb. 4, 2010 announced the final 11 candidates in consideration for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. This annual award is given to college basketball's top point guard and is named after Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtics guard Bob Cousy. An original list of 73 candidates made up of players from Division I, II and III schools was trimmed by a Hall of Fame appointed, nationally based committee to 20 and has now narrowed that list to a final 11. Devan Downey (South Carolina) and John Wall (Kentucky) were among the 11 finalists.
* Oscar Robertson Trophy: Three SEC players were among the 16 announced finalists for the 2010 Oscar Robertson Trophy, to be presented to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's national player of the year. Included among the SEC's candidates are: Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins, South Carolina's Devan Downey and Kentucky's John Wall.

## Awards and honors
### All SEC teams and awards

The following individuals received postseason honors after having been chosen by the SEC coaches:
2010 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | John Wall, KENTUCKY |
| Coach of the Year | Kevin Stallings, VANDERBILT |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jarvis Varnado†, F., MISS STATE |
| Rookie of the Year | DeMarcus Cousins, C., KENTUCKY |
| Scholar-Athlete of the Year | Ray Shipman, G., FLORIDA |
| Sixth Man Award | John Jenkins, G., VANDERBILT |
2010 All-SEC Men's Basketball Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | All-Defensive Team | All-Rookie Team |
| Trey Thompkins†, F., GEORGIA DeMarcus Cousins†, C., KENTUCKY Patrick Patterson, F., KENTUCKY John Wall†, G., KENTUCKY Jarvis Varnado, F., MISS STATE Devan Downey†, G., SOUTH CAROLINA Wayne Chism, F., TENNESSEE Jermaine Beal†, G., VANDERBILT | Mikhail Torrance, G., ALABAMA Courtney Fortson, G., ARKANSAS Erving Walker, G., FLORIDA Tasmin Mitchell, F., LSU Chris Warren, G., OLE MISS Dee Bost, G., MISS STATE AJ Ogilvy, C., VANDERBILT Jeff Taylor, F., VANDERBILT | Patrick Patterson, F., KENTUCKY Jarvis Varnado†, F., MISS STATE Devan Downey, G., SOUTH CAROLINA Sam Muldrow, F., SOUTH CAROLINA Jeff Taylor, F., VANDERBILT | Tony Mitchell, G., ALABAMA Marshawn Powell†, F., ARKANSAS Kenny Boynton, G., FLORIDA Eric Bledsoe†, G., KENTUCKY DeMarcus Cousins†, C., KENTUCKY John Wall†, G., KENTUCKY Reginald Buckner, F., OLE MISS John Jenkins†, G.,VANDERBILT |
| † - denotes unanimous selection |||||