SEC: All-January

The SEC Freshman of the Year race looks like it will be a three player battle. Two of the three (A.J. Ogilvy didn’t make the cut) make a return appearance on the monthly All-SEC list.

Guard – Devan Downey – South Carolina – SO
19.4ppg, 5.3apg, 3.3spg
Best game – Jan 2nd – Radford – 23 points, seven steals, five assists, three rebounds

The little man certainly has a nose for the ball – he averaged four steals a game for January. Add to that his 22 points and five assists a game and you have one of the best Januarys by a player in the SEC.

Guard – Marcus Thornton – LSU – JR
19.5ppg, 5.9rpg, 1.4spg
Best game – Jan 30th – Auburn – 38 points, seven boards, 8-15 3pts

Unfortunately Marcus Thornton’s play wasn’t good enough to save Coach John Brady his job, but it was good enough for the All-January SEC list. Thornton finished the month off with five-straight games with 20 or more points.

Guard/Forward – Nick Calathes – Florida – FR
15.4ppg, 6.2apg, 5.0rpg
Best game – Jan 19th – Kentucky – 24 points, eight rebounds, eight assists

The rookie Calathes seems to be getting better as the season goes on. In January he averaged 18 points, five boards, seven assists and only two turnovers per game. He has to be considered the front runner for SEC Freshman of the Year.

Forward – Patrick Patterson – Kentucky – FR
16.9ppg, 7.9rpg, 1.4bpg
Best game – Jan 12th – Vanderbilt – 23 points, 12 boards, two blocks

Another impressive freshman is the Wildcats’ Patterson. He put up 16 points, eight boards and two blocks per game in January as Kentucky makes a late push for the NCAA tournament.

Forward – Richard Hendrix - Alabama – JR
19.0ppg, 10.3rpg, 2.2bpg
Best game – Jan 8th – Florida – 24 points, 16 boards, four assists, three blocks, two steals

This has been a disastrous season for the Crimson Tide, yet very successful for Richard Hendrix on a personal note. He notched five more double-doubles in January, including the monstrous game versus Florida listed above.