Champ Week is here and it is now time to hand out awards.
In this week’s edition of Sam’s Section, I will go over my award picks for the ACC and Big Ten, with the Big 12 and SEC coming soon.
ACC
Player and Freshman of the Year: Cameron Boozer, forward, Duke (22.7 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.5 spg, 58.3 FG%, 40.7 3P%, 78 FT%)
Spoiler alert: Boozer will be my pick for National Player of the Year. For the first time since Jay Williams in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, Duke will have back-to-back National Players of the Year. Boozer has dominated the ACC, ranking second in scoring, leading the league in rebounds (and the only one averaging over 10 per game) and box plus/minus (+559). Since KenPom implemented its current format of the rating system in 2013, Boozer has the highest Player of the Year mark out of all players. He will be a contender for the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft.
Defensive Player of the Year: Maliq Brown, forward, Duke (3 drpg, 1.9 spg, 0.5 spg)
I was going to give this award to Syracuse’s William Kyle III, but his team’s below-average defense holds his case back. Enter Brown, who has anchored the No. 1 defense on KenPom. This could have easily gone to Boozer or Dame Sarr, but Brown has come off the bench and made a massive impact on the team’s defense. He leads the ACC in steal percentage (5.9%) and tied for seventh in Hakeem percentage (sum of steal and block percentage; 9.2%) with Boston College’s Jayden Hastings. There are few better guard defenders than Brown in college basketball. He would start for nearly every team but is lethal off the bench for Duke.
Sixth Man of the Year: Tru Washington, guard, Miami (Fla.) (11.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.9 spg, 45.7 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 73 FT%)
This could easily have been Brown as well, but Washington has come off the bench and averaged double figures in scoring this season. The New Mexico transfer has helped Miami earn a double bye for the ACC Tournament and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Most Improved Player: Juke Harris, guard, Wake Forest (21.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.3 spg, 45.2 FG%, 33.8 3P%, 77.6 FT%)
Harris came off the bench in 30 of the 31 games he played his freshman year, averaging 6.1 points per game. His sophomore season saw these numbers skyrocket, ranking top 15 in scoring in the country and third in the ACC behind Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie and Boozer. He is one of five players nationally, as well as the only guard, to average at least 21 points and six rebounds per contest this season.
Coach of the Year: Jon Scheyer, Duke
Duke showed nearly zero drop-off from a tremendous run to the Final Four last season, despite losing the majority of its starting lineup. The Blue Devils have played one of the nation’s toughest schedules and secured the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll after beating Michigan in late February. Scheyer becomes the first Duke coach to win this award since Mike Krzyzewski in 2000.
All-ACC Team:
G – Ebuka Okorie, Stanford
G – Boopie Miller, SMU
F – Malik Reneau, Miami (Fla.)
F – Cameron Boozer, Duke
F – Caleb Wilson, North Carolina
Big Ten
Player of the Year: Yaxel Lendeborg, forward, Michigan (14.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.4 bpg, 1.2 spg, 50.8 FG%, 34.3 3P%, 82.7 FT%)
Lendeborg transferred to Michigan after playing at an All-American caliber level at UAB and he has not skipped a beat since arriving in Ann Arbor. If you want to see just how tremendous he is, look at the Wolverines’ regular-season finale against Michigan State, putting up a season-high 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting (five of which were from 3-point range). He has proven to be unguardable throughout Big Ten play. While his numbers are nothing compared to what Boozer has done at Duke, Lendeborg is the best player on arguably the best team in the country.
Defensive Player of the Year: Zvonimir Ivisic, center, Illinois (3.5 rpg, 2.2 bpg)
Ivisic’s 7-foot-2 height cannot be taught and he used that size to lead the Big Ten in Hakeem percentage at 14.3%. The Big Ten awarded Michigan’s Aday Mara for this, but Ivisic has anchored Illinois to a much better defense than earlier in the year.
Freshman of the Year: Keaton Wagler, guard, Illinois (17.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.3 apg, 1 spg, 44.7 FG%, 41 3P%, 80.7 FT%)
This was not even a close one, with Wagler elevating himself to be one of the top picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. He is one of the many freshmen on the Wooden Award watch list, but the only freshman from the Big Ten on the list. Forget winning Freshman of the Year; Wagler certainly could have won Player of the Year.
Sixth Man of the Year: Braden Frager, forward, Nebraska (11.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.9 apg, 48.9 FG%, 34.8 3P%, 82.4 FT%)
Frager was one of the best freshmen in the Big Ten and he only started two of the 29 games he has appeared in for Nebraska. If Nebraska is to make a run this month, Frager’s production is critical.
Coach of the Year: Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
An absolutely easy decision. Nebraska was picked to finish 14th in the Big Ten preseason poll. Where did the Cornhuskers finish? Second. Two years after leading Nebraska to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years in 2024, the Cornhuskers are having their own version of the “Dream Season” that UConn had in 1990. Spoiler alert: Hoiberg is my National Coach of the Year pick as well.
All-Big Ten Team:
G – Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
G – Keaton Wagler, Illinois
F – Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska
F – Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
C – Aday Mara, Michigan