B1G Hoops Awards: Newbill, Marshall Earn Honorable Mention

D.J. Newbill finished 4th in the Big Ten in points per game (16.4 ppg) and assists (4.2 apg) in conference play, but that performance was apparently only good enough to land the sophomore an honorable mention from the media and coaches. Jermaine Marshall (16.2 ppg, 5th in scoring) joined him as an HM. The duo were passed over for the likes of Andre Hollins (14.6 ppg), Terone Johnson (14.2 ppg) and D.J. Richardson (14.2 ppg) for third-team honors (not that these players were in any way undeserving).

Certainly, wins factor into this process, and unfortunately Newbill and Marshall didn't stack up to any other player in this regard. This decision, of course, will simply provide more bulletin board material for Pat Chambers and crew heading into the Michigan game and, more importantly, next season.

Here is the full awards list. As usual, there are a few controversial decisions--for starters, Cody Zeller and Deshaun Thomas were not unanimous first-team selections by the coaches, Aaron Craft (10.2 ppg, 4.3 apg in conference play) was selected to the first team by the media and Sasa Borovnjak was not named player of the year.

Here are my picks that you totally didn't ask for:

First Team All-B1G:
Trey Burke, Michigan
Victor Oladipo, Indiana
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio St.
Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
Cody Zeller, Indiana

There are four clear-cut choices for the first team. Mbakwe is the outlier in this group, and I'll justify his selection with this: he was far and away the best rebounder in the conference (he averaged 1.7 more rebounds per game than Cody Zeller in Big Ten play), and without him Minnesota probably doesn't sniff the Big Dance. I don't think you could say that about any of the other contenders (Craft, Hardaway, Harris) for the final spot.

Second Team All-B1G:
Keith Appling, Michigan St.
D.J. Newbill, Penn State
Tim Hardaway Jr, Michigan
Gary Harris, Michigan St.
Jared Berggren, Wisconsin

NO HOMER PICK HERE THAT COMPLETELY DISREGARDS THE ARGUMENT FOR PICKING MBAKWE FOR THE FIRST TEAM HERE LET'S MOVE ALONG

Third Team All-B1G:
Aaron Craft, Ohio St.
Brandon Paul, Illinois
Andre Hollins, Minnesota
Christian Watford, Indiana
Adreian Payne, Michigan St.

I don't understand Aaron Craft on the first team. Can someone please explain that to the rest of the classroom?

Sixth Man of the Year: Will Sheehey, Indiana

I have no insightful analysis here other than his last name always reminds me of "The Amanda Show."

Freshman of the Year: Gary Harris, Michigan St

The dude shot 47% from three in Big Ten play. Egads.

Coach of the Year: John Beilein, Michigan

Matt from Victory Bell Ring met Beilein and said he was a genuinely nice guy. Bo Ryan is cool and all, but I was in the same room as him on Sunday and he was kind of a sourpuss so I'm going with Beilein. Plus, Michigan is the youngest team in the conference, but it's not like they're Calipari young, either. Keeping them near the top of the polls all season was no easy feat, and Beilein deserves a lot of credit for that.

Player of the Year: Trey Burke, Michigan

'member when we beat his team though? That was cool.

Follow @BSDtweet on Twitter
And join us on Facebook
All BSD community members should review our current Posting & Commenting Policies before creating any posts or commenting.