Notre Dame's Hansbrough Unanimous Choice For All-Big East
Notre Dame had an incredible season so far with a record of 14-4 in the Big East. They couldn't have done it without Ben Hansbrough leading the team to second place in the conference.
Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough was the lone unanimous selection to the All-Big East team on Sunday.
The 6-foot-3 senior guard was joined on the six-man first team by Kemba Walker of Connecticut, Austin Freeman of Georgetown, Ashton Gibbs of Pittsburgh, Marshon Brooks of Providence and Dwight Hardy of St. John's. The first team is comprised of the league's top six scorers and was chosen by the conference's head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.
DePaul's Cleveland Melvin was the lone unanimous pick to the all-rookie team.
Hansbrough, the younger brother of Tyler Hansbrough who was national player of the year at North Carolina in 2009, led the Irish (14-4) to a second-place finish behind Pittsburgh (15-3) in the regular season. He led the Irish in scoring with an 18.5 average, which was third in the league, and he was third in the conference in 3-point shooting at 45.1 percent.
Walker finished his junior year second in the league in scoring with a 23.1 average. He was a third-team selection last season.
Freeman was the preseason player of the year after being a second-team pick last season. He was fifth in the conference in scoring at 17.8 per game.
Gibbs, the top 3-point shooter in the league at 46.4 percent, was sixth in scoring at 16.4. He was a second-team pick in 2009-10.
Brooks was the league's scoring champion with a 26.0 average in league games. He was first in all games as well at 24.8. The 6-5 senior averaged 14.2 points last season.
Hardy was leader of the Red Storm's late run to the national rankings and a tie for third in the conference. He was fourth in the league in scoring at 17.9 per game.
The conference's player of the year will come from those on the first team and will be announced Tuesday during the opening round of the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.
Melvin, a 6-8 forward, led DePaul and all Big East freshmen in scoring with a 14.2 average.
The second team was Preston Knowles of Louisville, Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette, Brad Wanamaker of Pittsburgh, Rick Jackson of Syracuse and Corey Fisher of Villanova.
The third team was Chris Wright of Georgetown, Tim Abromaitis of Notre Dame, Jeremy Hazell of Seton Hall, Kris Joseph of Syracuse and Corey Stokes of Villanova.
The all-rookie team included Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier of Connecticut, Brandon Young of DePaul and Gilvydas Biruta of Rutgers.
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