Congrats, Shan

The Southeastern Conference released its men's basketball coaches awards today and Vanderbilt's Shan Foster was honored as the league's Most Valuable Player, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who has seen him play this season.

I handed out some awards yesterday and of the 10 players I included on my first and second teams, nine were named to the coaches' first team, which brings me to my real point: Why on earth are there nine players on the first team to begin with? This isn't T-ball where you need to worry about everyone's feelings. Put the best five on the first team, the next best five on the second team, and get over it. If you want to include more players, add a third team. Anyways, here's a look at the awards (I don't have any complaints with the picks)...

FIRST TEAM
Richard Hendrix (Alabama)
Sonny Weems (Arkansas)
Ramel Bradley (Kentucky)
Jamont Gordon (Miss. State)
Charles Rhodes (Miss. State)
Devan Downey (South Carolina)
Chris Lofton (Tennessee)
Tyler Smith (Tennessee)
Shan Foster (Vanderbilt)

SECOND TEAM
Nick Calathes (Florida)
Sundiata Gaines (Georgia)
Joe Crawford (Kentucky)
Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
Marcus Thornton (LSU)
Dwayne Curtis (Ole Miss)
JaJuan Smith (Tennessee)
A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Nick Calathes (Florida)
Jai Lucas (Florida)
Chandler Parsons (Florida)
Jeremy Price (Georgia)
Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
Anthony Randolph (LSU)
Trevor Gaskins (Ole Miss)
Chris Warren (Ole Miss)
Mike Holmes (South Carolina)
A.J. Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

SEC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Foster
SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jarvis Varnado (Miss. State)
SEC SIXTH MAN THE YEAR: J.P. Prince (Tennessee)
SEC CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR: Billy Gillespie (Kentucky) and Bruce Pearl (Tennessee)
SEC CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR: Patterson and Calathes