Darren Epps’ All-SEC team

Darren Epps’ All-SEC team

G Jamont Gordon, Mississippi State

G Chris Lofton, Tennessee

G Shan Foster, Vanderbilt

F Richard Hendrix, Alabama

F Tyler Smith, Tennessee

Freshman of the year

Patrick Patterson, Kentucky

The productivity of most freshmen begins to decline late in the season. It took an injury to slow Patterson. He finished his freshman season with 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

“He’s one of the best players in the country right now,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. “And one of the reasons why he was having such a special season and the reason why he’s so good is because of his effort.”

Coach of the year

Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt

Tennessee, with three seniors and the nation’s top transfer in Tyler Smith, was a unanimous pick to win the SEC East. The media picked Vanderbilt fourth. The Sporting News, USA Today Sports Weekly and Blue Ribbon predicted the Commodores would finish fifth. But Stallings, for the second year in a row, developed a nationally recognized team capable of a deep run in the tournament.

Most underrated

Wayne Chism, Tennessee

All the discussion about the Smith trio and Chris Lofton makes Chism an afterthought, but the work he does inside in such a short period of time is remarkable. Chism barely plays half a game — he’s averaging 22 minutes — but still grabs 6.1 rebounds per game and has 37 blocked shots, by far the best on the team.

Best dunker

Senario Hillman, Alabama

He’s already a “SportsCenter” favorite. Auburn’s Lucas Hargrove, absolutely posterized by Hillman this year, would agree. Tennessee’s JaJuan Smith was smarter and just got out of the way during one of Hillman’s spectacular slams.

Best defensive player

Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State

Easy pick. He has 70 blocked shots in SEC games alone and can completely change the structure of an offense. He leads the nation with 4.9 blocks per game.

Play of the year

JaJuan Smith’s steal and score to beat LSU. The Vols may not win the SEC without that play (and Smith was sick!), and a loss to the woeful Tigers would not look good on the résumé of a potential No. 1 seed.

Play of the year II

It didn’t impact the outcome like Smith’s layup, but Jamont Gordon’s no-look, behind-the-head pass to Charles Rhodes for a slam against Ole Miss was outstanding.