Women's Hoops Picked Fifth in Coaches SEC Preseason Poll
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | Women's Basketball
The Southeastern Conference unveiled its eighth annual women's basketball preseason All-SEC first and second teams, Tuesday, to tip off the 2011-12 season of SEC women's basketball. In addition, the coaches voted on a predicted order of finish, overall champion and a preseason Player of the Year.
Florida was picked to finish fifth in the 12-team league for the 2011-12 season, after the media selected the Gators sixth in its preseason voting.
In each of the four years under head coach Amanda Butler, Florida has at least met preseason expectations, exceeding them on three occasions.
For the third time since the 1990-91 season, the Gators return all five starters from the previous year. Florida's 2011-12 roster features five seniors, each of whom boasts starting experience. Of the five seniors, only Azania Stewart (6.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) was recruited by and will have played four years under Coach Amanda Butler. Fifth-year senior Ndidi Madu (7.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg) signed under former coach Carolyn Peck; Jordan Jones (10.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg) played her freshman year at South Carolina before transferring to UF; Deana Allen (6.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and Lanita Bartley (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg) both played at a junior college before enrolling at UF.
The Gators play host to Michigan on Friday in their 2011-12 season-opener. It will be the first game of a UF basketball doubleheader and tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
Tennessee was predicted to win the Southeastern Conference women's basketball regular season championship with 120 votes. The Lady Vols returns the bulk of last year's team. A six member senior-laden squad, UT will be led by 2011 State Farm All-American ansd SEC Preseason Player of the Year Shekinna Stricklen. The Lady Vols went 34-3, 16-0 in conference play, and won both the SEC regular season and tournament championships last year.
Kentucky, Georgia, LSU, Florida and Vanderbilt round out the top half of the league with South Carolina, Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss rounding out the lower half.
Points were compiled on a 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for order of prediction, while each player received two points for a first-team vote and one point for a second-team vote. Ties were not broken and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team or players.
The complete listing of all honors follows.
School POINTS
1. Tennessee 120
2. Kentucky 100
3. Georgia 98
4. LSU 96
5. Florida 92
6. Vanderbilt 85
7. South Carolina 62
8. Arkansas 57
9. Auburn 39
10. Alabama 29
11. Mississippi State 25
12. Ole Miss 16
FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC
C'eira Ricketts, Arkansas
Jasmine James, Georgia
A'dia Mathies, Kentucky
LaSondra Barrett, LSU
Glory Johnson, Tennessee
Meighan Simmons, Tennessee
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee
Stephanie Holzer, Vanderbilt
SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC
Ericka Russell, Alabama
Sarah Watkins, Arkansas
Jasmine Hassell, Georgia
Adrienne Webb, LSU
Valencia McFarland, Ole Miss
La'Keisha Sutton, South Carolina
Ieasia Walker, South Carolina
Tiffany Clarke, Vanderbilt
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee 6
Glory Johnson, Tennessee 3
A'dia Mathies, Kentucky 1
LaSondra Barrett, LSU 1
Meighan Simmons, Tennessee 1
