SEC Basketball Tournament 2011: Ranking the Top 10 Players
With the SEC men's basketball tournament getting ready to kick off, there is still hope for every single team in the league.
While Florida and Kentucky, among others, have all but sealed up at-large berths in the Big Dance, teams like Georgia and Alabama are resting squarely on the bubble. An early loss in the tournament could easily cause their bubble to pop.
Then there are teams like Auburn and Arkansas that absolutely have to make a magical run to the title, just like Georgia did in 2008, in order to find themselves playing in March Madness.
Dozens of talented-and-athletic young men will take to the court over the course of the next week, but it will be up to a more select group to lead their squads to SEC glory.
Read on to learn who are the top 10 players in the conference.
10. Tony Mitchell
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Alabama's sophomore forward, a selection on the second-team All-SEC, is the first of the great basketball players on this list.
In his 2010-2011 regular-season campaign, Tony Mitchell put up stellar numbers—15.5 points, 1.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game—while helping lead the Alabama Crimson Tide to a first-place finish in the SEC West.
Mitchell has scored in double figures during 28 of his 30 games played and he has put up four double-doubles. He may not be Alabama's true superstar, but he is a vital part of the team.
Just ask any of the seven teams he scored 20 points or more against.
9. Trey Thompkins
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Trey Thompkins was the preseason pick for SEC Player of the Year and he fought through an injury-plagued season to earn a spot on the first-team All-SEC. As a result, you may be surprised at his low placement on the list.
There is no doubt that Thompkins puts up incredible numbers. During the regular season, he scored 15.8 points, dished out 1.5 assists and grabbed 7.6 rebounds per game. The problem is how he gets those numbers.
Thompkins generally comes out of the gate strong and scores a lot of points in low-leverage situations. As a Georgia student, I've been to or watched every single one of the Bulldogs' games and can count on one hand the amount of times I remember Thompkins taking over during a clutch moment of a game.
He has all the skill in the world, but sometimes he seems to lack the competitive fire necessary to live up to his enormous potential.
8. Dee Bost
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Dee Bost missed the first 14 games of his junior season, but he performed well enough during his 16 games on the court that he earned a spot on the second-team All-SEC.
A guard for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Bost averaged 15.3 points, 5.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds. The last stat is the most impressive in my opinion because he stands just 6'2" yet seems to have a great nose for the ball.
Bost has seen his production slip during the latter portions of the season and he'll need to step up his game if the Bulldogs are going to have any shot at dancing past the SEC tournament.
But regardless of the late-season slump, Bost has proven himself as one of the elite guards in this conference.
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7. Travis Leslie
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The most athletic player in the SEC, Travis Leslie may very well be the single most athletic player in the entire country.
There are at least three plays a game in which he forces a collective gasp from the crowd. It may be a fast-break slam dunk, a ridiculous alley-oop or a sickening block of an opposing player, but no matter what type of play it is, Leslie is going to wow those watching.
Thanks to a much-improved offensive game, the junior has averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game. He's the one who has stepped up in clutch situations for Georgia, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him carry the Bulldogs through the upcoming SEC tournament.
Now if only we Athenians could convince him to stay for his senior season, then the second-team All-SEC player could very well have an even greater honor after the 2011-2012 season.
6. Scotty Hopson
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The magical powers of the flat top have led Scotty Hopson to a spot on the first-team All-SEC squad
Well actually, it was probably Hopson's 17.7 points, 1.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game that did the trick.
When this 6'7" guard gets going, it's virtually impossible to stop him. He single-handedly brought the Tennessee Volunteers back in a late-season game against Georgia, and that is no rare feat for No. 32. He scored a season-high 32 points in that contest.
Hopson's one true weakness is his turnover problem. If he can get that solved, he'd undoubtedly be one of the best players in the entire NCAA. But for now, he'll have to settle for No. 6 in the SEC.
5. John Jenkins
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Another prolific SEC scorer, John Jenkins was some peoples choice for SEC Player of the Year, but the reality is that his one-dimensional game keeps him from ascending any higher than No. 5.
Jenkins did score 19.2 points per game, but his 1.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game aren't very good for a guard. In fact, Jenkins turns the ball over 1.7 times per game, which means his assist-to-turnover ratio is an unsettling 0.7.
That said, his scoring prowess more than makes up for the shortcomings of his game. I recently posted an article comparing him to current Golden State Warrior and former Davidson Wildcat Stephen Curry: Vanderbilt Commodores Star John Jenkins: Could He Be Stephen Curry 2.0?
That favorable comparison and his inclusion on the first-team All-SEC should say it all.
4. JaMychal Green
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And now we get to the more versatile players. While Scotty Hopson and John Jenkins are both incredible scorers, they lack the ability that JaMychal Green has to help his team in multiple ways.
Green can score, as he's proven by putting up 16 points per game. The only game in which he failed to break the double-digit threshold came in the season's third contest when he played just 18 minutes against Seton Hall.
The 6'8" forward also dished out 1.6 assists and rebounded the ball 7.5 times per game for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
I may be a bit higher than most on Green because I just watched him destroy my Georgia Bulldogs in the second half of the regular-season finale, but there is no doubt that the junior deserves his spot on the first-team All-SEC squad.
3. Brandon Knight
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The latest freshman guard to make both the SEC All-Freshman team and the first-team All-SEC, Brandon Knight is doing a fantastic job walking in the footprints left behind by John Wall.
He's averaging 17.7 points, four assists and four rebounds per game and he is capable of exploding on any given night, although he has yet to crack double-digits in either of the latter two categories.
Knight is a great shooter, as shown by his 40.6-percent shooting from downtown and his 44.9 percent from the field, which are both good numbers for a guard. He's shown poise in all the big games and he should continue to do so as the season rolls along into the postseason.
If it wasn't for the next young man on this list, he'd absolutely be the SEC Freshman of the Year.
2. Terrence Jones
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The top freshman in the SEC was fittingly selected to both the SEC All-Freshman team and the first-team All-SEC.
Terrence Jones is even in the conversation for National Freshman of the Year, and he deserves that mention.
Jones is putting up 17.1 points, 1.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game and he is definitely a nightly threat to put up a double-double for the Kentucky Wildcats. In fact, Jones accomplished that feat 12 times so far this season.
Once he starts going left, he can't be stopped. Expect this guy to be a force for the duration of his collegiate career, which may not be too much longer.
1. Chandler Parsons
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Could the final spot have gone to any player other than the deserving winner of the SEC Player of the Year award?
Chandler Parsons' 11.4 points, 3.6 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game may not be the gaudiest statistics in the SEC, but his across-the-board contributions and leadership vault him above everyone else.
Parsons' is simply a matchup nightmare. He can play anywhere on the court, he is incredibly skilled at crashing the offensive glass, he can drain threes with the best of them and he has great ball-handling abilities. There really isn't too much this senior Florida Gator can't do.
If he stays healthy, it will be awfully difficult to knock the Gators off their perch atop the conference standings.
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