Big East Honors & Awards

All Big-East

Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette
#1 Senior Guard 6-2 215
18.3ppg 3.5rpg 2.7apg

Jason Clark, Georgetown
#21 Senior Guard 6-2 180
14.0ppg 4.1rpg 1.6spg

Kris Joseph, Syracuse
#32 Senior Forward 6-7 215
13.4ppg 4.7rpg 1.4spg

Jae Crowder, Marquette
#32 Senior Forward 6-6 235
18.3ppg 8.4rpg 2.5spg

Kevin Jones, West Virginia
#5 Senior Forward 6-8 260
19.9ppg 10.9rpg .509FG%

Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb, for all his talent and potential, misses the cut after the Huskies (and Lamb, at times) turned in an uninspired 2011-12 campaign.

Player of the Year: Jae Crowder, Marquette
Crowder was a poor man's Larry Johnson for Buzz Williams' Golden Eagles, regularly overwhelming the opposition with his physicality on both ends of the floor.

Top Defender: Gorgui Dieng, Louisville
Dieng, who anchored the nation's most efficient defense while averaging 3.2 blocks per contest (good for 8th best in the country), edges out Seton Hall's Fuquan Edwin, who averaged 3.0 swipes per contest (second in the NCAAs).

Best Freshman: Moe Harkless, St. John's
Harkless, a versatile wing who plays like a less perimeter-oriented Joe Johnson, did it all for the Red Storm, averaging 15.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Coach of the Year: John Thompson III, Georgetown
While Notre Dame's Mike Brey and Louisville's Rick Pitino are both deserving, JT3 led a team projected to finish tenth in the Big East preseason poll to a 3 seed in the NCAA Tourney.

ACC Honors & Awards

All-ACC

Kendall Marshall, North Carolina
#5 Sophomore Guard 6-4 195
8.1ppg 9.8apg 1.2spg

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
#40 Sophomore Forward 6-8 215
17.1ppg 5.2rpg 1.1spg

Mike Scott, Virginia
#23 Senior Forward 6-8 235
18.1ppg 8.4rpg .563FG%

John Henson, North Carolina
#31 Junior Forward 6-11 220
13.7ppg 9.9rpg 2.9bpg

Tyler Zeller, North Carolina
#44 Senior Center 7-0 250
16.3ppg 9.6rpg 1.5bpg

Yes, it is gross that four Tar Heels are among the conference's top five performers.

Player of the Year: Tyler Zeller, North Carolina
Big Z edges out UVA's Mike Scott in what was a highly competitive race for the conference's top honor.

Top Defender: John Henson, North Carolina
Despite his tendency to play out of position, Henson's ability to alter and block shots (tenth in NCAA) played a large part in the Tar Heels' oft-criticized defense finishing as the nation's eleventh most efficient.

Best Freshman: Austin Rivers, Duke
Rivers led the 27-win Blue Devils in scoring at 15.4 points per contest and rounded into one of the most dangerous scorers in the country.

Coach of the Year: Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
The Seminoles beat the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils twice apiece and rode their stingy, physical defense to an ACC Tournament Championship and a 3 seed in the NCAA Tourney.

Kentucky wins #8.

The Kentucky Wildcats are the 2011-12 National Champions. After knocking off rival Louisville in the Final Four and then topping Kansas in the championship game, the Wildcats took home title number eight. It was an incredibly impressive season for the Cats. They began the 2011-12 campaign as the co-favorite (along with North Carolina) to win the title. With the Tar Heels stumbling in the early going, John Calipari's squad was pretty much the best team in the country from beginning to end. Kentucky dropped a game at Assembly Hall in Bloomington to the Hoosiers in December and lost a second game in the SEC tourney against a Vanderbilt team it had already beaten twice before. Outside of those two hiccups, UK was dominant from start to finish. Anthony Davis was the best player in the country and one of the best defenders the college game has ever seen. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the country's fiercest competitors, had a spectacular freshman year in his own right. Terrence Jones failed to live up to his preseason accolades but put together a very solid season. Doron Lamb continued to be one of the craftiest scorers in the NCAAs. Darius Miller provided savvy veteran leadership, became one of the college ranks' most dependable crunch-time performers, and proved to be a player capable of playing at the next level. While Marquis Teague struggled in the early part of the season, he finished the year as the National Champions' very capable floor general. And Calipari, regardless of what his detractors may say about his methods and his vacated trips to the Final Four, put together one of the five best coaching jobs of the 2011-12 season. Sure, he had a ton of talent, but he also molded a group of freshmen and sophomores into a championship caliber team in about eight months. And he had this group of future first-round picks playing selfless, ego-less basketball. The Wildcats' chemistry was undeniable. They put forth as much effort on defense as on offense. They deferred to one another, seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with each other, and improved as the season progressed. And then, after the Cats put the finishing touch on their masterpiece of a season, Lexington went apeshit.