FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Arkansas is projected to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference's Western Division in basketball according to a poll of media members attending the league's annual basketball media days in Birmingham, Ala., on Wednesday.
The Hogs earned 107 points including one first-place vote in the survey. LSU received 21 first-place votes and tops the SEC West poll with 205 points. Auburn earned 181 points and 10 first-place votes to finish second in the voting. Rounding out the division was Mississippi State (167 points), Arkansas (107 points), Alabama (93 points) and Ole Miss (87 points). Mississippi State received six first-place votes, while Arkansas, Alabama and Ole Miss each received one first-place vote.
Kentucky narrowly topped Florida for the first place spot in the SEC's Eastern Division. The Wildcats tallied 223 points and 22 first-place votes. Florida received 219 points and 18 first-place votes. Tennessee (129 points), Vanderbilt (119 points), Georgia (87 points) and South Carolina (72 points) finished third through sixth, respectively.
Kentucky was also tabbed as the preseason favorite for the overall league title with 21 votes. Florida (18) and Mississippi State (1) were the only other teams to receive SEC Championship votes.
In conjunction with the preseason poll, a pair of All-SEC teams was selected by the league's media representatives. No Arkansas players were included on the first or second team. Vanderbilt's Matt Freije topped the voting for SEC Preseason Player of the Year. Florida's David Lee and Matt Walsh as well as LSU's Jaime Lloreda and Kentucky's Gerald Fitch also received votes for player of the year.
2003-04 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY VOTING [As voted by media in attendance] (First Place Votes)
WESTERN DIVISION LSU (21) - 205 Auburn (10) - 181 Miss. State (6) - 167 Arkansas (1) - 107 Alabama (1) - 93 Ole Miss (1) - 87
ALL-SEC TEAM First-Team Gerald Fitch, Kentucky - 36 Matt Freije, Vanderbilt - 31 David Lee, Florida - 29 Jaime Lloreda, LSU - 23 Anthony Roberson, Florida - 17
Second-Team Timmy Bowers, Miss. State - 15 Justin Reed, Ole Miss - 12 Kyle Davis, Auburn - 8 Lawrence Roberts, Miss. State - 5 Marco Killingsworth, Auburn - 4
PLAYER OF THE YEAR Matt Freije, Vanderbilt - 13 David Lee, Florida - 10 Jaime Lloreda, LSU - 10 Gerald Fitch, Kentucky - 4 Matt Walsh, Florida - 1 No Vote - 2
