Alabama basketball was picked to finish fifth in the SEC while senior guard John Petty Jr. earned preseason first-team honors as the conference announced its preseason poll and team Thursday afternoon.

Tennessee was projected to win the conference while Kentucky, LSU, Florida and Alabama round out the top five. Voting was done by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.

Petty made the SEC’s preseason first-team along with Florida’s Keyontae Johnson, Brandon Boston, LSU’s Trendon Watford and Tennessee’s John Fulkerson. Johnson was selected as the preseason SEC Player of the Year.

Earlier in the day, Alabama was ranked at No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

First Team All-SEC

John Petty Jr. – Alabama

Keyontae Johnson – Florida

Brandon Boston Jr. – Kentucky

Trendon Watford – LSU

John Fulkerson – Tennessee

Second Team All-SEC

Olivier Sarr – Kentucky

Javonte Smart – LSU

Dru Smith – Missouri

AJ Lawson – South Carolina

Yves Pons – Tennessee

Savion Flagg – Texas A&M

SEC Player of the Year

Keyontae Johnson – Florida

Preseason Media Poll

1. Tennessee

2. Kentucky

3. LSU

4. Florida

5. Alabama

6. Arkansas

7. Auburn

8. South Carolina

9. Ole Miss

10. Missouri

11. Texas A&M

12. Mississippi State

13. Georgia

14. Vanderbilt