2009–10 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season
The 2009–10 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices on October 17, 2009 and ended with the Southeastern Conference Tournament on March 11–14, 2010 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Pre-season polls and teams
2009–10 SEC Men's Basketball Pre-Season Poll:Pre-Season All-SEC Teams
| SEC Media | SEC Coaches |
| Devan Downey South Carolina Patrick Patterson Kentucky Tyler Smith Tennessee Jarvis Varnado Mississippi State Terrico White Ole Miss | Devan Downey South Carolina Tasmin Mitchell LSU AJ Ogilvy Vanderbilt Patrick Patterson Kentucky Tyler Smith Tennessee Jarvis Varnado Mississippi State Michael Washington Arkansas Terrico White Ole Miss |
- SEC Coaches select 8 players
- Players in bold are choices for SEC Player of the Year
Rankings
Conference tournament
Head coaches
Post season
NCAA Tournament
| # of Bids | Record | Win % | R32 | S16 | E8 | F4 | CG |
| 4 | 6–4 | .600 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | Bid Type | Seed | Results |
| Kentucky | Automatic | 1 | W 100–71 vs 16 East Tennessee State W 90–60 vs 9 Wake Forest W 62–45 vs 12 Cornell L 66–73 vs 2 West Virginia |
| Vanderbilt | At-large | 4 | L 65–66 vs 13 Murray State |
| Tennessee | At-large | 6 | W 62–59 vs 11 San Diego State W 83–68 vs 14 Ohio W 76–73 vs 2 Ohio State L 69–70 vs 5 Michigan State |
| Florida | At-large | 10 | L 92–99 vs 10 BYU |
National Invitation Tournament
| # of Bids | Record | Win % | R2 | R3 | SF | CG |
| 2 | 4–2 | .667 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Highlights and notes
;2010 Big East/SEC Invitational| Date | SEC Team | Big East Team | Location | Outcome |
| 12/9 | Georgia | St. John's | Madison Square Garden, New York | St. John's 66–56 Big East 1–0 |
| 12/9 | Kentucky | UConn | Madison Square Garden, New York | Kentucky 64–61 Tied 1–1 |
| 12/10 | Mississippi State | DePaul | St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa | Mississippi State 76–45 SEC 2–1 |
| 12/10 | Florida | Syracuse | St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa | Syracuse 85–73 Tied 2–2 |
;Players of the week
Throughout the conference regular season, the SEC offices named a player of the week each Monday.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| 11/16 | Rotnei Clarke, ARK | Eric Bledsoe, UK |
| 11/23 | Patrick Patterson, UK | John Wall, UK |
| 11/30 | Erving Walker, FLA | John Wall, UK |
| 12/7 | A.J. Ogilvy, VANDY | John Wall, UK |
| 12/14 | Ravern Johnson, MISS STATE | John Wall, UK |
| 12/21 | Trey Thompkins, UGA | Reginald Buckner, MISS |
| 12/28 | JaMychal Green, BAMA | DeMarcus Cousins, UK |
| 1/4 | DeMarcus Cousins, UK | John Jenkins, VANDY |
| 1/11 | Bobby Maze, TENN | John Jenkins, VANDY |
| 1/18 | Jarvis Varnado, MISS STATE | Eric Bledsoe, UK |
| 1/25 | Travis Leslie, UGA | DeMarcus Cousins, UK |
| 2/1 | Devan Downey, USC | Marshawn Powell, ARK |
| 2/8 | Courtney Fortson, ARK | DeMarcus Cousins, UK |
| 2/15 | Jeffery Taylor, VANDY | John Wall, UK |
| 2/22 | Wayne Chism, TENN | DeMarcus Cousins, UK |
| 3/1 | Jarvis Varnado, MISS STATE | John Jenkins, VANDY |
| 3/8 | Chris Warren, MISS | Tony Mitchell, BAMA |
;Award Finalists Notes:
- Bob Cousy Award: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Feb. 4, 2010 announced the final 11 candidates in consideration for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. This annual award is given to college basketball’s top point guard and is named after Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtics guard Bob Cousy. An original list of 73 candidates made up of players from Division I, II and III schools was trimmed by a Hall of Fame appointed, nationally based committee to 20 and has now narrowed that list to a final 11. Devan Downey and John Wall were among the 11 finalists.
- Oscar Robertson Trophy: Three SEC players were among the 16 announced finalists for the 2010 Oscar Robertson Trophy, to be presented to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s national player of the year. Included among the SEC’s candidates are: Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins, South Carolina’s Devan Downey and Kentucky’s John Wall.
Awards and honors