Kentucky cleans up on SEC postseason awards
Except for Player of the Year, Kentucky swept the Southeastern Conference’s major awards for the 2014-15 men's basketball season on Tuesday.
His SEC colleagues voted John Calipari as SEC Coach of the Year, Willie Cauley-Stein as Defensive Player of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns as Freshman of the Year and Devin Booker as Sixth Man of the Year.
Only the Player of the Year award eluded Kentucky. It went to Bobby Portis of Arkansas.
This is the third SEC Coach of the Year honor for Calipari, who led the Wildcats to a perfect 31-0 regular-season record. UK became the second team (following Florida last year) to post an 18-0 regular-season SEC record.
Dating back to his time at UMass and Memphis, this is the eighth time in Calipari's career he been tabbed his league’s top coach.
Kentucky’s 31 consecutive wins to open the season are the most in one season in SEC history, and the 31-game winning streak is the second-longest in SEC history. Kentucky won 32 in a row in the 1953-54 and 1954-55 seasons.
Cauley-Stein and Towns were named to the All-SEC first team, while Booker and Aaron Harrison were named to the all-league second team.
Booker and Towns were joined by teammates Trey Lyles and Tyler Ulis on the All-SEC Freshman Team, while Cauley-Stein earned his second career All-Defensive Team honor.
Cauley-Stein became the third player under Calipari’s direction to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor. Anthony Davis (2012) and Nerlens Noel (2013) were the previous Wildcats to earn the accolade.
Cauley-Stein led the Wildcats with 44 steals and ranked second with 49 blocks.
Portis averages 17.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while posting 11 double-double this season. He became the first Razorback to be named SEC Player of the Year since Corliss Williamson won back-to-back honors in 1994 and 1995.
Towns, who is a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Award for national freshman of the year, is averaging 9.7 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds for the top-ranked Wildcats.
Towns is the sixth consecutive Wildcat to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors by the league’s coaches, joining John Wall (2010), Terrence Jones (2011), Anthony Davis (2012), Nerlens Noel (2013) and Julius Randle (2014).
Booker, who is also a finalist for the Tisdale Award, comes off the bench to average 10.9 points and shot 43.6 percent (51-of-117) from behind the three-point arc.
Other Wildcats to be named SEC Sixth Man of the Year in recent seasons are Darius Miller (2012) and Kyle Wiltjer (2013).
The SEC named Alabama’s Levi Randolph as Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He had a 3.45 undergraduate grade-point average and a 3.75 graduate level grade point average in Marketing. The senior from Madison, Ala., became the first Academic All-American in Alabama men’s basketball history when he was named a second team selection earlier this month.
A complete list of the 2015 SEC postseason awards follows:
TEAMS
First Team All-SEC
Bobby Portis, Arkansas – F, 6-11, 242, So., Little Rock, Ark.
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky – F, 7-0, 240, Jr., Olathe, Kan.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky – F, 6-11, 250, Fr., Piscataway, N.J.
Jarell Martin, LSU – F, 6-10, 236, So., Baton Rouge, La.
Jordan Mickey, LSU – F, 6-8, 235, So., Dallas, Texas
Stefan Moody, Ole Miss – G, 5-10, 179, Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.
Josh Richardson, Tennessee – G, 6-6, 200, Sr., Edmond, Okla.
Danuel House, Texas A&M – G, 6-7, 207, Jr., Fresno, Texas
Damian Jones, Vanderbilt –C, 6-10, 240, So., Baton Rouge, La.
Second Team All-SEC
Levi Randolph, Alabama – G, 6-5, 210, Sr., Madison, Ala.
Michael Qualls, Arkansas – G, 6-6, 210, Jr., Shreveport, La.
KT Harrell, Auburn – G, 6-4, 212, Sr., Montgomery, Ala.
Dorian Finney-Smith, Florida – F, 6-8, 218, Jr., Portsmouth, Va.
Marcus Thornton, Georgia – F, 6-8, 235, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.
Devin Booker, Kentucky – G, 6-6, 206, Fr., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Aaron Harrison, Kentucky – G, 6-6, 212, So., Richmond, Texas
Craig Sword, Mississippi State – G, 6-3, 194, Jr., Montgomery, Ala.
Jalen Jones, Texas A&M – G/F, 6-7, 223, Jr., Dallas, Texas
SEC All-Freshman Team
Anton Beard, Arkansas – G, 6-0, 190, Fr., North Little Rock, Ark.
Devin Robinson, Florida – F, 6-8, 178, Fr., Chesterfield, Va.
Devin Booker, Kentucky – G, 6-6, 206, Fr., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Trey Lyles, Kentucky – F, 6-10, 235, Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky – F, 6-11, 250, Fr., Piscataway, N.J.
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky – G, 5-9, 155, Fr., Lima, Ohio
Wade Baldwin IV, Vanderbilt – G, 6-3, 195, Fr., Belle Mead, N.J.
Riley LaChance, Vanderbilt – G, 6-2, 194, Fr., Brookfield, Wisc.
SEC All-Defensive Team
Marcus Thornton, Georgia – F, 6-8, 235, Sr., Atlanta, Ga.
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky – F, 7-0, 240, Jr., Olathe, Kan.
Jordan Mickey, LSU – F, 6-8, 235, So., Dallas, Texas
Josh Richardson, Tennessee – G, 6-6, 200, Sr., Edmond, Okla.
Damian Jones, Vanderbilt –C, 6-10, 240, So., Baton Rouge, La.
AWARDS
Coach of the Year: John Calipari, Kentucky
Player of the Year: Bobby Portis, Arkansas
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Levi Randolph, Alabama
Freshman of the Year: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky
Sixth-Man of the Year: Devin Booker, Kentucky
SEC Defensive Player of the Year: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Kentucky cleans up on SEC postseason awards."