2008 SEC Basketball Awards
March 11th, 2008 | 
Author: ![BB-08-SEC-Champs(SM)[3]](http://gate21.net/wp-content/uploads/Tenn-Logos/BB-08-SEC-Champs(SM).png "2008 SEC Basketball Awards")
Well, the powers that be have selected the SEC Basketball Post-season awards, and the BasketVols are well represented in the final list.
Chris Lofton and Tyler Smith both were selected as members of the 8-man All-SEC First team, and JaJuan Smith was selected to the All-SEC Second team. JaJuan Smith also was selected for the SEC All-Defensive team. J.P. Prince was selected as the SEC Sixth-man of the Year.
In addition to these player accolades, Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl was selected as co-Coach of the Year with Kentucky Head Coach Billy Gillespie. While I understand that Gillespie managed to transform a potentially disastrous season into a reasonably successful one, the Kentucky Wildcats are still a “bubble” team, and in my opinion his sharing the coach of the year honors with Pearl is ridiculous. The BasketVols have had a phenomenal season, and a number of their wins were the direct result of Pearl’s fabulous efforts on the sidelines. Be that as it may, the voters chose both. Either way, Coach Pearl has earned the accolade, and deserves a huge amount of credit for building on his past successes and propelling the Vols to the forefront of the world of College Basketball.
The Orange Nation is proud of all of the award winners, and of the team as a whole. One of the great things about this team — which I’ve blathered on about all season — is that they are truly a team, not just a collection of individuals. Hats off to all of the BasketVols!
Now let’s get ready to get going in the Georgia Dome!
– Go Figure ….gif "2008 SEC Basketball Awards")
Image Courtesy of: Knoxville News Sentinel
About the Author: "Lawvol" -- I'm just a guy living in North Carolina who has an unnatural fascination with the color orange. Just because I'm a Tennessee alum and die-hard Volunteer fan doesn't mean that I can't poke a little fun at the Big Orange and anybody else for that matter.
Feel free to complain all you want. >> Read more from this author
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Posted in College Basketball, News & Notes, SEC Basketball | 
Tags: 2008 SEC Champions, ACC, All-SEC, Awards, Basketball, BasketVols, Billy Gillispie, Bruce Almighty, Bruce and the Barbarians, Bruce Pearl, Chris Lofton, College Basketball, Defense, J.P. Prince, JaJuan Smith, Kentucky Wildcats, Knoxville, Knoxville News Sentinel, NCAA, NCAA Basketball, NCAA Tournament, Orange Nation, SEC, SEC Championship, Tennessee Volunteers, Tyler Smith
6 Responses to “2008 SEC Basketball Awards”
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David on 
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Did you watch Real Sports on HBO last night? They did an expose on Pearl and it was really good. I can’t help but think the bias against Pearl, which was highlighted in the Real Sports piece, played a role with Pearl not being named the outright coach of the year.
How could he not be? I agree with you completely – it’s absolutely absurd.
MoonDog,
I’m curious what kind of bias the show discussed. I’ve heard about bias from the SEC at various levels as well as from the officials, but I honestly don’t know of anything concrete. Any chance you could expound a little bit and fill me in?
I assume they were talking about Pearl’s breaking the quasi-”Omerta” code of silence between coaches about known recruiting violations when he was in the Big-Ten and turned in (I think) Illinois for paying players.
I didn’t get to see it, but I would love to (don’t get HBO).
When and where did Bruce Pearl coach in the Big Ten?
Never mind: Iowa.
Yeah, he was an assistant under Tom Davis.
By the way, glad to have you here, and feel free to comment or complain all you want. Hope you enjoy the site.
So, what are your colors? A Bama fan?