Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of Georgia has been named the SEC Player of the Year, while Kentucky's Nerlens Noel won both Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Joining Caldwell-Pope and Noel on the First Team All-SEC are Alabama's Trevor Releford, Florida's Erik Murphy, LSU's Johnny O'Bryant, Missouri's Phil Pressey, Tennessee's Jordan McRae and Texas A&M's Elston Turner.

Billy Donovan was named Coach of the Year.

The SEC has become one college basketball's strongest conferences over the past decade as Kentucky has become a powerhouse again under John Calipari, while Billy Donovan has built a consistent winner at Florida with championships in 2006 and 2007.

But there has also been a trickle down effect.

Seven of the top 15 overall prospects in the Class of 2013 are SEC-bound: Andrew and Aaron Harrison and James Young to Kentucky, Kasey Hill and Chris Walker to Florida, Bobby Portis to Arkansas and Jarrell Martin to LSU.

Each of the five remaining top-15 prospects are considering at least one SEC school.

The SEC has 13 top-50 commits, which is more than double the amount from the ACC (6) and Big 12 (6).

Trevor Thompson has verbally committed to Virginia Tech.

Thompson is a 6-11 center on the postgraduate team of St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Wisconsin.

"I just love everything about Virginia Tech," he said. "And it's my home state."

Thompson said he also had scholarship offers from Kansas State, Arizona State, Mississippi State, Auburn and Southern California.

Austin Nichols, a top-10 recruit in the class of 2013, trimmed his list to six schools: Memphis, Auburn, Tennessee, Virginia, Duke, and Vanderbilt.

"I talked with my parents a few times and I guess today was the day," Nichols said. "We were a little late cutting the list, but we had to get it done and we were confident in each school."

Nichols intends to utilize his allotted five official visits on Virginia, Auburn, Tennessee, Duke and Vanderbilt after unofficially visiting Memphis last week.

Robert Hubbs said that Tennessee and Auburn stand out most in his recruitment.

“[Tennessee coach] Cuonzo Martin, he’s come to really all my games,” Hubbs said. “He’s there, he tells me he’s going to be there every game to watch me play.”

Hubbs, a 6-foot-5 guard, indicated Auburn is also making a strong push for his talents.

“Auburn’s a good school. I look forward to going up there and visiting again and just getting a feel for it,” Hubbs said.