’Cats’ Bey is Big 5 Player of the Year
Villanova returned to the top of the Big 5 standings in 2019-20. The Wildcats are also again monopolizing the postseason awards, announced Wednesday.
Saddiq Bey was named the Big 5 Player of the Year, while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Rookie of the Year) and Jay Wright (Coach of the Year) claimed the major awards for the Wildcats, who won the Big 5 for the sixth time in seven seasons.
Bey, a sophomore forward who has entered the NBA draft process, averaged 16.1 points per game. He won the Julius Erving Award as the nation’s top small forward. He’s the fourth straight Wildcat to earn a Big 5 Player of the Year honor, joining Phil Booth, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
Robinson-Earl, a freshman forward who this week rescinded his name from the NBA Draft, earns the award that Bey scored last year. The member of the Big East All-Freshman Team averaged 10.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He was named to the All-Big 5 second team.
Wright led Villanova to a 4-0 mark in the city series and a 24-7 record, including the regular season Big East title, before the postseason was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bey and Villanova teammate Collin Gillespie highlighted the All-Big 5 first team. Also selected was Saint Joseph’s guard Ryan Daly (Archbishop Carroll All-Delco), the city’s leading scorer at 20.6 points per game. Temple’s Quinton Rose and Penn’s AJ Brodeur round out the first team.
Temple senior guard Alani Moore II was recognized as the Big 5’s Most Improved Player, averaging
8.4 points per game. St. Joe’s Toliver Freeman, a senior biology major with a 3.66 GPA, is the ScholarAthlete of the Year, while teammate Myles Douglas was lauded as the Big
5’s leading free throw shooter at 87.1 percent.