Big East Honors & Awards

With UConn and King Kemba picking up the Huskies' third championship since 1999, the Big East season is officially in the books. That means it's time to recognize the Big East's brightest stars. Honors and awards take into account the entirety of the season, rather than just Big East conference play.

All-Big East

Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame
#23 Senior Guard 6-3 205
18.4 ppg 4.3 apg 3.9 rpg

Kemba Walker, Connecticut
#15 Junior Guard 6-1 170
23.5 ppg 5.4 rpg 4.5 apg

Dwight Hardy, St. John's
#12 Senior Guard 6-2 195
18.3 ppg 2.9 rpg 1.3 spg

Austin Freeman, Georgetown
#15 Senior Guard 6-3 235
17.6 ppg 3.7 rpg 2.4 apg

Marshon Brooks, Providence
#2 Senior Guard 6-5 190
24.6 ppg 7.0 rpg 1.5 spg


Player of the Year: Kemba Walker, Connecticut
RBP's choice for National Player of the Year also takes home the conference hardware, but Marshon Brooks deserves special recognition for putting together a pretty incredible season while toiling in obscurity at Providence.

All-Defense

Preston Knowles, Louisville
#2 Senior Guard 6-1 190

D.J. Kennedy, St. John's
#1 Senior Forward 6-5 215

Gilbert Brown, Pittsburgh
#5 Senior Forward 6-6 215

John Flowers, West Virginia
#41 Senior Forward 6-7 215

Rick Jackson, Syracuse
#00 Senior Forward 6-9 240


Defensive Player of the Year: Preston Knowles, Louisville
While Rick Jackson put up impressive numbers in Jim Boeheim's 2-3 zone (2.5 blocks and 1.3 steals per contest), Knowles, who averaged 1.9 swipes per contest, gets the nod for spearheading the nation's fourth most efficient defense.

Freshman of the Year: Jeremy Lamb, Connecticut
Lamb, who averaged 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest and finished the season with 11 straight games of double-digit scoring, is the choice here, but fellow UConn frosh Shabazz Napier deserves recognition for his stingy defense and playmaking.

Coach of the Year: Jim Calhoun, Connecticut
Rick Pitino, Jamie Dixon, Steve Lavin, and Mike Brey all turned in worthy performances, but Calhoun earns top honors (despite the Huskies' .500 regular season conference record) for winning the National Championship with a team that wasn't even ranked in the preseaon top 25.

And now for some regionally appropriate hip-hop.