Will UConn team sweep Big East awards, or will Hurley have more ammunition?
When you read this, it’ll be March. March means postgame games and awards in college basketball, and a week from Sunday the Big East Conference will announce its all-league teams. The following day, the league will announce its Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award. And on Wednesday, March 13, just prior to the start of the Big East Tournament, the league’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar-Athlete will be announced.
March 13 could be a big day for the UConn men’s basketball team, with prime candidates for all four awards. Or, it could provide Dan Hurley & Co. with plenty of ammunition if the Huskies don’t get much love.
Let’s take a look at the Big East’s upcoming awards, who are the favorites to win, and how the Huskies may or may not clean up.
Player of the Year
Tristen Newton is a leading candidate here. He’s on a bunch of national watch lists, including one of 40 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Of course, Providence’s Devin Carter, Marquette’s Tyler Kolek and Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman are also on that list.
Newton has been the best overall player on the league’s best team. He’s tied for the team lead in scoring (15.2 points) and leads the Huskies in assists (5.8) and, stunningly, the 6-foot-5 guard leads the Huskies in rebounding (7.3). He’s notched a pair of triple-doubles, bringing his program-record up to four in just two seasons.
In conference games only, Newton is second to Kolek in assists (5.8) and seventh in rebounding (7.5). But he’s shooting just 28 percent from 3 and 37 percent overall in Big East play and isn’t even UConn’s
top scorer. Hurley frequently points out that conference awards should be judged on a player’s overall body of work, not just in league play. But we’ll see if Big East coaches, who vote for these awards, agree. After all, in theory, players could load up their stats in non-league games against cupcake opponents.
One thing is certain: Player of the Year usually goes to someone on the league’s best (or one of the best) teams. So that could put Newton in the driver’s seat, assuming UConn maintains its current two-game lead over Marquette with three games to go (one of them at Marquette). But it’s a competitive field.
Kolek is the reigning Player of the Year, and hasn’t done a whole lot not to warrant a repeat. Scheierman, a 6-7 guard, leads the league in rebounding (and minutes played) and is fourth in scoring. And Carter not only leads the league in scoring (21.5), but has been the linchpin in PC’s surprising success after firstteam all-league forward Bryce Hopkins suffered a season-ending injury.
Oh, and are we going to simply dismiss Cam Spencer, who is shooting a whopping 43.6 percent from 3 and is actually the Huskies’ leading scorer (14.8) in league play? Spencer’s overall 3point percentage of 44.6 percent is third in the nation, but since he doesn’t average at least 2.5 3pointers per game in Big East play, he doesn’t appear on the league’s leaderboard. He’s averaging 2.4 3-pointers per game.
Right now, the bet is that the coaches give this one to Carter, who has been great. But there are still games to play. Perhaps the regular season-ending, March 9 UConn-PC 8 p.m. battle at the AMP ends up deciding whether Carter or Newton wins the award?
Or, perhaps the league’s coaches will have already submitted their votes by then.
Coach of the Year
This will be veeeeerrrry interesting. Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway has done a tremendous job, leading a team picked to finish ninth in the league into contention for third (or even second) place in the conference. Kim English has done an excellent job at PC, as well, putting the Friars on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, as of now, despite the devastating loss of Hopkins. Rick Pitino has probably talked himself our of consideration.
But Hurley probably deserves this award. And not only because the Huskies were picked to
finish third in the league and have the upper hand at winning their first regular-season title in 18 years. UConn lost three NBA players ( Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson Jr. and Adama Sanogo) from last year’s national title team, not to mention Nahiem Alleyne and Joey Calcaterra. The Huskies have not rebuilt but revamped, and it’s all led by Hurley’s dogged determinism.
Hurley could wind up winning National Coach of the Year. It would be embarrassing if he didn’t win the league’s award. But don’t forget, the coaches vote on this (hello, St. John’s!). Is Hurley the most popular guy in the room?
Ultimately, Hurley probably wins the award, though maybe he shares it with Holloway, the guy who succeeded him as point guard at Seton Hall.
Freshman of the Year
Stephon Castle has won Freshman of the Week honors nine times, tied for second most in league history with Allen Iverson. One more and he ties Carmelo Anthony. Enough said. The only question is how this veteran-laden league fills out the rest of its All-Freshman Team.
Defensive Player of the Year
Hassan Diarra certainly is worth of consideration. So is Donovan Clingan, despite missing five games. Carter and Marquette’s Stevie Mitchell should also be frontrunners. But Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner has won the award the past two seasons. The league typically awards shot-blockers, and since the 7-foot-1 senior leads the league at 3.3 per game, it’s a good bet Kalkbrenner ends up a threetime winner.
Sixth Man Award
Xavier’s Trey Green may be most deserving, but he’s just a freshman. Hakim Hart of Villanova? Seton Hall’s Isaiah Coleman (another frosh)? Diarra or Samson Johnson? Not likely.
Scholar-Athlete Award
Impossible to know this one, especially if some team has a Pat Lenehan we don’t know about. But Alex Karaban, a triple-major in statistics, computer science and sports management, has to be a candidate, right?
Sportsmanship Award
Again, hard to know this one. Maybe the league throws a Georgetown or DePaul player a bone? Or how about ‘Nova’s Justin Moore?
All-Conference Teams
UConn could get penalized for having such a balanced team (five players averaging in double figures). The coaches will certainly lean towards the better teams. As of Thursday, Feb. 29 (almost March!), here’s how we think the coaches will vote:
First Team: Tristen Newton, UConn; Tyler Kolek, Marquette; Baylor Scheierman, Creighton; Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton; Devin Carter, Providence; Kadary Richmond, Seton Hall.
Second Team: Cam Spencer, UConn; Oso Iguodaro, Marquette; Trey Alexander, Creighton; Daniss Jenkins, St. John’s; Eric Dixon, Villanova.
Honorable Mention: Alex Karaban, UConn; Kam Jones, Marquette; Quincy Olivari, Xavier; Josh Oduro, Providence.
All-Freshman: Stephon Castle, UConn; Isaiah Coleman, Seton Hall, Trey Green, Xavier; Rich Barron, Providence; Drew Felder, Georgetown.
Again, this is more a prediction of how the coaches might vote. It’s worth noting that, for the second year in a row, the Associated Press will have its own Big East awards, as well, voted by one media member from each Big East city.
One difference: Last year, the AP had a “Newcomer of the Year” category instead of “Freshman of the Year,” PC’s Bryce Hopkins, a Kentucky transfer, won that one. If that award remains this year, Cam Spencer will be a frontrunner.