The Big East will start rolling out its men’s basketball awards this weekend.
And, like the 2023-24 season, it will be tough for the league’s coaches to decide between UConn’s balanced group of starters for major awards.
An example: Solo Ball is the Huskies’ leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, but it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for him to miss the cut for first team all-conference, which will be announced on Sunday, along with the second and third teams, as well as the all-freshman and all-defensive lists.
There haven’t been three players from the same program named first team all-conference since it started naming six players in 2008-09, so it is likely that one of Silas Demary Jr., Tarris Reed Jr. or Alex Karaban could miss the cut as well. UConn’s entire starting five is averaging between 10 and 15 points per game.
The league will announce its defensive player of the year, most improved, sixth man and sportsmanship awards on Monday.
The Big East Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Scholar-Athlete will be recognized at a press conference at Madison Square Garden before the Big East tournament begins on Wednesday.
So where do the Huskies stack up?
Player of the Year
The clearest race of them all. It is hard to imagine a world where Zuby Ejiofor isn’t the Big East Player of the Year.
Picked to win the award before the season, Ejiofor leads St. John’s in points (15.8), rebounds (7.2), assists (3.6) and blocks (1.9) per game – ranking top 10 in the league in each of those categories. Demary would likely be UConn’s top candidate if the coaches are using advanced analytics, Demary is the best player in the league, just barely edging Ejiofor in the Bayesian Performance Rating on EvanMiya.com. But the Huskies have three of the top four players in the league based on that metric, which ultimately hurts his case and the program’s chances at its first player of the year winner in the Big East since Hasheem Thabeet in 2008-09.
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Freshman of the Year
Braylon Mullins might have a shot at following in Stephon Castle and Liam McNeeley’s footsteps as UConn’s third straight winner, but the choice isn’t so clear this season. Mullins (12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 38.2% from 3) will be on the all-freshman team and he is certainly one of, if not the most talented freshman in the league, but his willingness to play within the flow of UConn’s offense has prevented him from eye-popping numbers night after night.
Acaden Lewis, likely favored for the award, has been a significant part of Villanova’s success averaging 12.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game as point guard on the third-place team in the conference. He has been named Big East Freshman of the Week five times, once more than Marquette’s Nigel James, who is leading the Golden Eagles in scoring at 16.3 points per game, with 3.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.9 blocks per game. James has a strong case, but team success should hold some weight.
Coach of the Year
This award has generally gone to the coach of the best team in the league and has gone to the regular-season champion in seven of the last eight years. The only exception? Mike Anderson at St. John’s in 2020-21, when he led the Johnnies, picked ninth in the preseason, to 10-9 in league play and a No. 4 seed in the tournament.
Shaheen Holloway, who will almost certainly receive Dan Hurley’s vote, has led Seton Hall – picked last in the preseason coaches’ poll – to a fourth-place finish. He seems to be the leader in a three-horse race, which doesn’t include Hurley or Rick Pitino (the last two winners). With more NIL money to compete with, Kevin Willard has Villanova – picked seventh in the preseason – in third place in his first season. Chris Holtmann has also done a fantastic job reviving DePaul, which was picked ninth in the preseason and will finish with at least eight league wins for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
Defensive Player of the Year
For the first time in four years, Ryan Kalkbrenner will not be on the stage at Madison Square Garden as the Big East’s best defender.
Like the Player of the Year race, the top defender will likely come down to St. John’s and UConn stars. The award typically goes to the best rim protector in the league, which could be either Ejiofor and Tarris Reed Jr., though Providence’s Oswin Erhunmwunse and Seton Hall’s Najai Hines lead the league in blocked shots. Since there isn’t much separation, Demary, who’s addition has brought UConn’s defense from 75th in the country last season to No. 12 this year, has a legitimate case. He and Ejiofor are the only Big East representatives on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list.
Most Improved Player
There aren’t many options for players who’ve improved over multiple seasons in the Big East. Marquette’s Chase Ross upped his scoring from 10.5 points per game to 14.2 this year, but his shooting percentages have taken a hit from last season. Butler star Finley Bizjack is the most likely option as he made an expected leap from 10.3 points per game last season to 17.0 this year. Reed would be UConn’s best candidate, moving into the starting role and upping his production from 9.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game to 13.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 26 minutes per game.
Sixth Man Award
St. John’s guard Dylan Darling, who gave the Huskies trouble in their early-February trip to MSG, is the likely favorite to follow Reed as the league’s top sixth man. UConn had won it two years in a row with Hassan Diarra claiming the award in 2024, but it hasn’t had a bench player make enough of a consistent impact this season.