McNeal, Matthews named all-Big East
Mar. 8, 2009 1:16 p.m.
Marquette Golden Eagles senior guard Jerel McNeal was named first team all-Big East and senior guard Wesley Matthews second team, the league announced on Sunday.
McNeal joins Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, Louisville's Terrence Williams, Notre Dame's Luke Harangody and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair and Sam Young on the first team.
The Big East's player of the year will be selected from that group on Tuesday, between sessions of the first round of play at the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Matthews, meanwhile, joins Connecticut's A.J. Price, Syracuse's Jonny Flynn, Villanova's Dante Cunningham and West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler on the second team.
Forward Lazar Hayward, who averaged 16.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, was not among the top 20 vote-getters, and did not receive any mention. The teams are selected by the Big East's 16 coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
McNeal has been recognized in some form for four years now by the league, including winning Defensive Player of the Year in the 2006-'07 season. It's the first such honor for Matthews, who figures to have a legitimate shot at being named Most Improved Player.
That award will be announced on Monday.
You can see the entire release here. (http://www.bigeast.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=92555&SPID=11228&DB_OEM_ID=19400&ATCLID=3687582)
-- Delivered by Feed43 (http://feed43.com/) service
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/40923362.html
Nice that they went back to five guys per team, rather than the 10 they'd been doing. Well, 6 on the first team, but it was 11 the last few years.
Good choices, too, though I think Dominic James and several others are better than Cincy's Vaughn for the third team. And, if I had to be honest, I don't think Matthews is one of the 10 best in the Big East, third team probably more appropriate for him. He benefitted a lot from being the third or fourth guy our opponents were worried about.
Congrats to both M & M boys!
Hayward was deserving of some recognition; especially for his work on the boards against much bigger competition.