2015–16 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

August 2023 2015–16 SEC Men's Basketball Season #1D427D #FFD24F NCAA Division I Basketball Southeastern Conference logo.svg 125px 14 CBS, ESPN, SEC Network Regular Season Kentucky and Texas A&M 2016 SEC Champions Tyler Ulis, Kentucky Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Stefan Moody Tournament Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee 2016 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament Kentucky Texas A&M Tyler Ulis, Kentucky SEC Men's Basketball Tournament#Champions Basketball 2014–15 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season 2014–15 2016–17 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season 2016–17 The 2015–16 SEC men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2016 and concluding in March, after which 13 member teams had participated in the 2016 SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, with the tournament champion being guaranteed selection to the 2016 NCAA tournament. Preseason left horizontal SEC recruits at the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game 150 20150401 MCDAAG Antonio Blakeney tomahawk dunk (2).JPG Antonio Blakeney, LSU 20150401 MCDAAG Isaiah Briscoe in open space.JPG Isaiah Briscoe, Kentucky 20150401 MCDAAG P. J. Dozier dunk (3).JPG PJ Dozier, South Carolina 20150401 MCDAAG Malik Newman bringing the ball upcourt (2).JPG Malik Newman, Mississippi State 20150401 MCDAAG Ben Simmons posts Ivan Rabb (2).JPG Ben Simmons, LSU On March 15, 2015, Anthony Grant was fired from Alabama.Parrish Gary Alabama fires Anthony Grant http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25108922/alabama-fires-anthony-grant 15 March 2015 CBS Sports 15 March 2015 On April 5, 2015, ESPN reported that Avery Johnson had verbally agreed to become the new head basketball coach at the University of Alabama, replacing Grant.Sources: Avery Johnson to coach Tide https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12623514/avery-johnson-agrees-become-alabama-crimson-tide-basketball-coach Jeff Goodman ESPN April 5, 2015 April 5, 2015 The following day, the university officially announced Johnson's hiring.http://www.myfoxal.com/story/28725315/avery-johnson-officially-named-alabama-mens-basketball-coach Avery Johnson officially named Alabama men's basketball coach Jordan Smith Drew Dover WBRC April 6, 2015 April 6, 2015 April 12, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150412042738/http://www.myfoxal.com/story/28725315/avery-johnson-officially-named-alabama-mens-basketball-coach dead On March 21, 2015 Rick Ray was fired by Mississippi State. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12530618/rick-ray-fired-mississippi-state-bulldogs-basketball-coach Rick Ray fired as Mississippi State Bulldogs basketball coach On March 24, 2015, Ben Howland was hired as the 20th head coach of Mississippi State replacing Ray.Howland named MSU's 20th head basketball coach http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=209979194 HailState.com 2015-03-25 On March 27, 2015, Tennessee fired Donnie Tyndall after the NCAA notified Tennessee officials of possible NCAA violations at Southern Miss. The violations centered around improper financial aid for two players, as well as academic problems with junior college transfers. According to a copy of Tyndall's termination letter, Tyndall had lied to Tennessee officials about the extent of the violations on several occasions, and had also deleted several emails from an old email account even though he was aware he would have been questioned about activity on that account by the NCAA.Termination letter at Tennessee At a press conference announcing Tyndall's firing, athletics director Dave Hart said that he would have never hired Tyndall had the true extent of the violations at Southern Miss been known. Texas head coach Rick Barnes was named Tyndall's replacement. On April 30, 2015, Billy Donovan agreed to a $30 million, multi-year deal to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder,http://www.nba.com/thunder/news/release_donovan_150430?ls=iref:nbahpts Thunder Names Billy Donovan Head Coach NBA April 30, 2015 April 30, 2015 replacing Scott Brooks who previously coached the Thunder for seven seasons.https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12793263/billy-donovan-agrees-multi-year-deal-oklahoma-city-thunder Billy Donovan agrees to coach Thunder ESPN April 30, 2015 Royce Young April 30, 2015 On May 7, 2015, Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White was named as Donovan's replacement. Media Day selections Mediahttp://www.secsports.com/article/13926979/media-picks-kentucky-win-sec Media picks Kentucky to win SEC Southeastern Conference October 22, 2014 October 21, 2015 1. Kentucky 2. Vanderbilt 3. Texas A&M 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Florida 7. South Carolina 8. Mississippi State 9. Ole Miss 10. Auburn 11. Arkansas 12. Tennessee 13. Alabama 14. Missouri () first place votes Preseason All-SEC teams Media Danuel House Texas A&MDamian Jones VanderbiltSkal Labissière KentuckyStefan Moody Ole MissBen Simmons LSUTyler Ulis Kentucky Coaches select 8 players Players in bold are choices for SEC Player of the Year Head coaches Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school. Team Head coach Previous job Seasons at school Overall record SEC record NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsAlabama Avery Johnson Brooklyn Nets 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Arkansas Mike Anderson Missouri 5th 86–48 39–31 1 0 0Auburn Bruce Pearl Tennessee 2nd 15–20 4–14 0 0 0Florida Mike White Louisiana Tech 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Georgia Mark Fox Nevada 7th 105–88 51–51 2 0 0Kentucky John Calipari Memphis 7th 190–38 82–20 5 4 1LSU Johnny Jones North Texas 4th 61–37 29–25 1 0 0Mississippi State Ben Howland UCLA 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Missouri Kim Anderson Central Missouri 2nd 9–23 3–15 0 0 0Ole Miss Andy Kennedy Cincinnati 10th 192–114 78–72 2 0 0South Carolina Frank Martin Kansas State 4th 64–56 21–41 0 0 0Tennessee Rick Barnes Texas 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0Texas A&M Billy Kennedy Murray State 5th 71–61 26–28 0 0 0Vanderbilt Kevin Stallings Illinois State 17th 313–206 127–135 6 0 0 Rankings + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings   Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 FinalAlabama AP C Arkansas AP C RV RVAuburn AP C Florida AP RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV Georgia AP C Kentucky AP 2 2 1 1 5 4 12 10 9 14 23 20 20 22 14 16 22 16 10 C 1 2 1 1 4 4 11 11 8 13 19 19 19 21 14 14 19 16 13 16LSU AP 21 23 22 RV C 19 19 17 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV Mississippi State AP C Missouri AP C Ole Miss AP C South Carolina AP RV RV RV 25 24 22 19 24 RV 25 RV RV RV C RV RV 25 23 20 20 15 23 22 23 20 23 RV RV RV Tennessee AP C Texas A&M AP RV RV 25 18 RV 24 21 20 21 15 10 5 8 15 RV 21 20 C RV RV RV 20 25 24 19 19 17 14 8 5 8 13 24 21 18 17 15 Vanderbilt AP 18 17 19 16 21 RV RV RV RV C 20 17 16 13 16 23 25 RV SEC regular season On January 13, 2016, Missouri announced that it would not participate in any postseason play in 2016, including the SEC Tournament. At the time, the Tigers were facing an NCAA investigation into major rules violations that occurred under the tenure of former head coach Frank Haith.https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14563798/Missouri-tigers-forced-vacate-all-wins-2013-14-investigation-shows-major-violations Major violations found at Missouri; penalties imposed by school ESPN.com January 13, 2016 January 14, 2016 Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. AlabamaArkansasAuburnFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLSUMississippi StateMissouriOle MissSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexas A&MVanderbiltvs. Alabama – 1–01–10–11–02–01–11–10–11–01–11–00–11–0vs. Arkansas0–1 – 1–01–01–01–01–11–10–21–01–00–21–00–1vs. Auburn1–10–1 – 1–01–10–11–01–01–02–01–01–11–02–0vs. Florida1–00–10–1 – 0–22–01–10–10–00–21–01–01–02–0vs. Georgia0–10–10–22–0 – 1–01–00–10–21–10–20–11–01–0vs. Kentucky0–20–11–00–20–1 – 1–10–10–10–10–11–11–01–1vs. LSU1–11–10–11–10–11–1 – 0–10–10–11–01–01–10–1vs. Miss. State1–11–10–11–01–01–01–0 – 0–10–21–11–02–00–1vs. Missouri1–02–00–11–02–01–01–01–0 – 2–01–10–12–01–0vs. Ole Miss0–10–10–22–01–11–01–02–00–2 – 1–00–11–00–1vs. South Carolina1–10–10–10–12–01–00–11–11–10–1 – 1–10–10–1vs. Tennessee1–02–01–10–11–01–10–10–11–01–01–1 – 1–02–0vs. Texas A&M1–01–10–10–10–10–11–10–20–20–11–00–1 – 1–1vs. Vanderbilt0–11–00–20–20–11–11–01–00–11–01–00–21–1 – Total 8–10 9–9 5–13 9–9 10–8 13–5 11–7 7–11 3–15 10–8 11–7 6–12 13–5 11–7 Postseason SEC Tournament 2016 SEC men's basketball tournament The conference tournament is scheduled for Wednesday–Sunday, March 9–13, 2016 at the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee. Teams will be seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary. The tournament involved only 13 teams after Missouri self-imposed a postseason ban. {| class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%;" |- | colspan="10" style="text-align:center; background:#DDDDDD; font:#000000" | 2016 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results |- bgcolor="#efefef" ! Seed ! School ! Conf. ! Over. ! Tiebreaker ! First roundMarch 9 ! Second roundMarch 10 ! QuarterfinalsMarch 11 ! SemifinalsMarch 12 ! ChampionshipMarch 13 |- |1. | ‡Texas A&M |13–5 |24–7 |1–0 vs. Kentucky | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #8 FloridaW, 72–66 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #4 LSUW, 71–38 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #2 KentuckyL, 77–82OT |- |2. | †Kentucky |13–5 |23–8 |0–1 vs. Texas A&M | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #10 AlabamaW, 85–59 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaW, 93–80 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #1 Texas A&MW, 82–77OT |- |3. | †South Carolina |11–7 |24–7 |2–0 vs. LSU/Vanderbilt | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaL, 64–65 | | |- |4. | †LSU |11–7 |18–13 |1–1 vs. S. Carolina/Vanderbilt | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeW, 84–75 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #1 Texas A&ML, 38–71 | |- |5. | #Vanderbilt |11–7 |19–13 |0–2 vs. South Carolina/LSU | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeL, 65–67 | | | |- |6. | #Georgia |10–8 |17–12 |2–0 vs. South Carolina | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #11 Mississippi StateW, 79–69 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #3 South CarolinaW, 65–64 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #2 KentuckyL, 80–93 | |- |7. | #|Ole Miss |10–8 |20–11 |0–1 vs. South Carolina | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #10 AlabamaL, 73–81 | | | |- | 8. | #Florida|9–9 |19–13 |1–0 vs. Arkansas | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #9 ArkansasW, 68-61| style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #1 Texas A&ML, 66-72| | |- | 9. | #Arkansas|9–9 |16–16 |0–1 vs. Florida | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #8 FloridaL, 61-68| | | |- |10. | #Alabama'|8–10 |17–13 | | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #7 Ole MissW, 83-71| style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #2 KentuckyL, 59-85| | |- |11. | #Mississippi St.|7–11 |14–16 | | style="background:#bfb;"| Bye | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #6 GeorgiaL, 69-79| | | |- |12. |Tennessee|6–12 |15–18 | | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #13 AuburnW, 97–59 | style="background:#bfb;"| vs. #5 VanderbiltW, 67–65 | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #4 LSUL, 75-84| | |- |13. | Auburn|5–13 |11–19 | | style="background:#fbb;"| vs. #12 TennesseeL, 59–97 | | | | |- | colspan="10" style="text-align:left;|‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.† – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament.# – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament.Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament. |- |} NCAA tournament 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship3WestTexas A&Mvs. #14 Green BayW, 92–65 (Oklahoma City)vs. #11 Northern IowaW, 92–88 (Oklahoma City)vs. #2 OklahomaL 63–77 (Anaheim)4EastKentucky vs. #13 Stony BrookW, 85–67 (Des Moines)vs. #5 IndianaL, 67–73 (Des Moines)11SouthVanderbiltvs. #11 Wichita StateL, 50–70 (Dayton) 3 BidsW-L (%):0–1 0 12–0 2 01–1 1 10–1 0 10–0 0 00–0 0 0TOTAL: 3–3 3 3 National Invitation Tournament 2016 National Invitation Tournament Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals 1 South Carolina/San Diego State Quadrant South Carolinavs. #8 High PointW, 88–66 (Columbia)vs. #4 Georgia Tech(Columbia) 2 Monmouth/Florida Quadrant Floridavs. #7 North FloridaW, 97–68 (Jacksonville)vs. #3 Ohio StateW, 74–66 (Columbus)vs. #4 George WashingtonL, 77–82 (Washington D.C.) 3 Valparaiso/Saint Mary's Quadrant Georgiavs. #6 BelmontW, 93–84 (Athens)vs. #2 St. Mary'sL, 65–77 (Moraga) 5 St. Bonaventure/BYU Quadrant Alabamavs. #4 CreightonL, 54–72 (Omaha) 4 BidsW-L (%):3–1 3 11–2 1 20–1 0 10–0 0 0TOTAL: 4–4 4 4 NBA draft 2016 NBA draft PG Point guard SG Shooting guard SF Small forward PF Power forward C Center Player Team Round Pick # Position School NationalityBen SimmonsPhiladelphia 76ers11PF/PGLSUAustraliaJamal MurrayDenver Nuggets7PG/SGKentuckyCanadaWade Baldwin IVMemphis Grizzlies17PGVanderbiltUnited StatesSkal LabissièrePhoenix Suns28PF/CKentuckyHaitiDamian JonesGolden State Warriors30CVanderbiltUnited StatesTyler UlisPhoenix Suns234PGKentuckyUnited States Honors and awards Players of the Week All-Americans 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans Starting on March 6, the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans were released for 2015–16 season, based upon selections by the four major syndicates. The four syndicates include the Associated Press, USBWA, NABC, and Sporting News. 18em startAPFirst Team18em breakUSBWAFirst TeamBen Simmons, LSUSecond TeamTyler Ulis, Kentucky 18em breakNABCFirst Team18em breakSporting NewsFirst TeamTyler Ulis, KentuckySecond Team''' Ben Simmons, LSU end All-SEC awards and teams Coaches 2016 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards2016 SEC Men’s Basketball Awards Announced, accessed March 8, 2016 Award Recipient(s)Player of the YearTyler Ulis, So., G, KentuckyCoach of the YearBilly Kennedy, Texas A&MDefensive Player of the YearTyler Ulis, So., G, KentuckyFreshman of the YearBen Simmons, F, LSUScholar-Athlete of the YearRetin Obasohan, Sr., G, AlabamaSixth Man AwardDuane Notice, Jr., G, South Carolina 2016 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team All-Freshman Team All-Defensive Team Michael Carrera Sr., F, South CarolinaJalen Jones Sr., F, Texas A&MDamian Jones Jr., F, VanderbiltStefan Moody Sr., G, Ole MissJamal Murray Fr., G, KentuckyBen Simmons Fr., F, LSURetin Obasohan Sr., G, AlabamaTyler Ulis So., G, KentuckyWade Baldwin So., G, VanderbiltAlex Caruso Sr., F, Texas A&MDorian Finney-Smith Sr., F, FloridaJ. J. Frazier Sr., G, GeorgiaDanuel House Sr., F, Texas A&MMoses Kingsley Jr., C, ArkansasYante Maten So., F, GeorgiaKevin Punter Jr., G, TennesseeKeVaughn Allen FloridaAntonio Blakeney LSUTyler Davis Texas A&MD. J. Hogg Texas A&MJamal Murray KentuckyKevin Puryear MissouriBen Simmons LSUQuinndary Weatherspoon Miss. StateAlex Caruso Sr., F, Texas A&MLuke Kornet Jr., F, VanderbiltMoses Kingsley Jr., C, ArkansasRetin Obasohan Sr., G, AlabamaSindarius Thornwell Jr., G, South CarolinaTyler Ulis So., G, Kentucky † - denotes unanimous selection References External links SEC website