Darrin Horn

BEST PLAYER

Devan Downey, South Carolina

Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks didn’t hesitate when I asked him to name the toughest player to guard in the SEC. “Devan Downey,” he said.

Only 5-foot-9 and possessing an Allen Iverson-like first step, Downey often leaves his defender asking for help, and he finishes at the basket like a 7-footer. He leads the Gamecocks in points per game (20.2), assists per game (4.6), steals (87), free-throw shooting (.730) and minutes per game (32.9), transforming them from a middling SEC team into co-division champions.

The head-to-head battles with Meeks would get a unanimous decision from the judges for Downey. He stunned Kentucky with a late 3-pointer in Rupp Arena and drilled the game-winner in Meeks’ face with 3.2 seconds remaining. Downey scored 21 points in the rematch at South Carolina, a blowout win. He scored 11 points in the final 48 seconds at Florida.

“I think he’s the best point guard in college basketball, personally,” said Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, who coached Downey for a year at Cincinnati.

Good answer, Jodie.

2. Marcus Thornton, LSU: The most prolific scorer on the best team.

3. Jodie Meeks, Kentucky: We’ll never forget the Tennessee game, but he faded during Kentucky’s crippling four-game losing streak to end the regular season.

BEST COACH

Trent Johnson, LSU

He transformed a dysfunctional team struggling with academics into the SEC champion in just months. Johnson absorbed criticism for his weak nonconference schedule, but he maintained that the schedule reflected the team’s need to stay home and concentrate on schoolwork. Didn’t matter. LSU is still going to the NCAA tournament.

2. Jeff Lebo, Auburn: Forget firing him. How about an extension?

3. Darrin Horn, South Carolina: Like Johnson, he inherited a veteran team that lost its way and now will play in the postseason.

BEST FRESHMAN

Terrico White, Ole Miss

Andy Kennedy plucks another talented guard away from the mid-majors. Last year, it was Chris Warren. White got offers from Valparaiso and Georgia State but went to Ole Miss and averaged 13.5 points in his first season.

2. JaMychal Green, Alabama: He might average a double-double next season.

3. Dee Bost, Mississippi State: A freshman shouldn’t total 135 assists to 90 turnovers, but Bost did just that.

BEST GAME

Kentucky at Tennessee, Jan. 13

The Meeks game. Final line, in someone else’s gym: 54 points on 15-of-22 shooting, 10-of-15 from the 3-point line, 14-of-14 from the free-throw line, eight rebounds, four assists and one word to combat all of Tennessee’s trash-talking that night. “Fifty,” he told Bobby Maze after making a free throw to hit the 50-point mark.

2. Florida at South Carolina, Jan. 21: Never seen an ending quite like this. Mike Holmes rebounded a missed free throw, then hit Zam Fredrick in stride with a cross-court pass — were you watching, Steve Spurrier? — for the winning layup right before the buzzer.

3. South Carolina at Kentucky, Jan. 31: Downey vs. Meeks for 20 seconds on the final possession, and it was memorable.

BEST MOMENT

Anthony Brock’s last-second shot

Attends the funeral of his grandma, rides all night with his cousin from Little Rock to Knoxville and then banks in the first game-winning shot of his career at the buzzer to stun Tennessee for Alabama.

2. Georgia beats Florida: A lot of wins are forgotten in a long basketball season. One look at the faces of Georgia’s players, who entered the game winless in SEC play, told us they would never forget this upset.

3. John Pelphrey gets a technical with bronchitis: Somewhere, Rasheed Wallace is smiling and nodding in approval.

BEST QUOTE

“You think we’ve never arrested somebody that’s made national media? We deal with the Bengals all the time,” a Cincinnati police officer to Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, who said his arrest would be a “national incident.”

2. “I’ve got to meet this cousin,” interim Alabama coach Philip Pearson, when told Brock’s cousin, Raymond, drove him from Little Rock to Knoxville for the Tennessee game.

3. “We (were) at the free-throw line and Meeks was like, ‘My coach just told me not to shoot the ball anymore.’ I was like, ‘Your coach told you not to shoot anymore?’” Florida’s Ray Shipman, recounting a second-half conversation with Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks following last Saturday’s game.