Postseason honors roll in for Kansas men’s hoops
LAWRENCE, Kan. – As the Kansas men’s basketball team prepares for Thursday’s Big 12 Championship quarterfinals at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, 2017-18 postseason honors continue to roll in for the Jayhawks.
On Tuesday, four postseason accolades were released – the USA TODAY All-America Team, the NCAA.com Awards, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District teams and the Associated Press (AP) All-Big 12 squad.
As has been the norm, Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been the spotlight on all four postseason honors released Tuesday. Graham named first-team All-America by USA TODAY and NCAA.com. Joining Graham on the USA TODAY first team is Jalen Brunson (Villanova), Trae Young (Oklahoma), Marvin Bagley III (Duke) and Deandre Ayton (Arizona). Brunson is the USA TODAY Player of the Year, while Young is the freshman of the year.
NCAA.com included Graham, Brunson, Bagley, Ayton and Keita Bates-Diop (Ohio State). Brunson was its player of the year.
Graham is the USBWA District VI player of the year and KU sophomore center Udoka Azubuike joined him on the 10-member all-district team. Kansas head coach Bill Self is the USBWA District VI Coach of the Year.
The nine 2017-18 Men’s All-District Teams were based on voting from its national membership of 900-plus. District VI includes teams from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Graham and Azubuike are appearing on the team for the first time, while Self has been named the USBWA District VI Coach of the Year seven times while at KU, including each of the last three seasons. He has won the honor in 2005-06-09-11-16-17-18.
The Associated Press 2018 All-Big 12 featured four KU starters and head coach Bill Self. Like the Big 12 all-conference team released March 4, the AP named Graham the Big 12 Player of the Year and Self the Big 12 Coach of the Year. Graham was a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection as was Young of Oklahoma. Joining them on the first team was Mohamed Bamba (Texas), Jevon Carter (West Virginia) and Keenan Evans (Texas Tech).
Azubuike and KU senior Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk were named second team all-conference by the AP, while redshirt sophomore Malik Newman was honorable mention. Oklahoma’s Young was the AP Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
Voting for the AP team was by a 19-member media panel from the Big 12 region that covers men’s college basketball.
2017-18 Postseason Honors
Bill Self
USBWA District VI Coach of the Year
Big 12 Coach of the Year (Big 12, Associated Press)
Udoka Azubuike
All-Big 12 Second Team (Associated Press)
USBWA All-District VI Team
All-Big 12 Third Team (Big 12)
Academic All-Big 12 Second Team
Devonte’ Graham
NCAA.com First Team
USA TODAY All-America First Team
USBWA District VI Player of the Year
USBWA All-District VI Team
The Sporting News All-America First Team
Bob Cousy Award Finalist – 1 of 5
Big 12 Player of the Year (Big 12, Associated Press)
All-Big 12 First Team (Big 12, Associated Press)
Citizen Naismith Trophy Semifinalist – 1 of 10
Wooden Award National Ballot – 1 of 15
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
All-Big 12 Second Team (Big 12, Associated Press)
Malik Newman
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention (Associated Press)
Big 12 Newcomer of the Year
Big 12 All-Newcomer Team
Lagerald Vick
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Clay Young
Academic All-Big 12 First Team
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