Washington State forward/center Josh Hawkinson has been named an honorable mention all-Pac-12 selection for the second consecutive year, the conference announced today. He was the only selection for the 12th place Cougars.
If you felt like Hawkinson had the kind of year that should have merited greater honors -- 15.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, the latter best in the Pac-12 -- there were a couple of things working against the junior from Shoreline, Washington.
The first? The team was terrible, and the coaches who vote on these honors tend to reward the better teams. Additionally, though, it underscores just how good the conference is at the moment and just how much talent there is. Would you replace any of these with Hawkinson?
FIRST TEAM | ||||||
Name | School | Pos | Yr | Ht | Wt | Hometown (Last School) |
Rosco Allen | STAN | F | Sr. | 6-9 | 220 | Budapest, Hungary (Bishop Gorman HS) |
Ryan Anderson | ARIZ | F | Sr. | 6-9 | 235 | Long Beach, Calif. (Boston College) |
Andrew Andrews | WASH | G | Sr. | 6-2 | 200 | Portland, Ore. (Benson Tech HS) |
Dillon Brooks | ORE | F | So. | 6-7 | 225 | Mississauga, Ont. (Findlay Prep) |
Jaylen Brown | CAL | F | Fr. | 6-7 | 225 | Atlanta, Ga. (Wheeler HS) |
Elgin Cook | ORE | F | Sr. | 6-6 | 205 | Milwaukee, Wis. (Northwest Florida State) |
Julian Jacobs | USC | G | Jr. | 6-4 | 180 | Las Vegas, Nev. (Desert Pines HS) |
Gary Payton II** | OSU | G | Sr. | 6-3 | 190 | Seattle, Wash. (Salt Lake CC) |
Jakob Poeltl | UTAH | F | So. | 7-0 | 248 | Vienna, Austria (Arkadia Traiskirchen) |
Josh Scott** | COLO | F | Sr. | 6-10 | 245 | Monument, Colo. (Lewis-Palmer HS) |
SECOND TEAM | ||||||
Name | School | Pos | Yr | Ht | Wt | Hometown (Last School) |
Isaac Hamilton | UCLA | G | Jr. | 6-5 | 185 | Los Angeles, Calif. (St. John Bosco HS) |
Dejounte Murray | WASH | G | Fr. | 6-4 | 170 | Seattle, Wash. (Rainier Beach HS) |
Ivan Rabb | CAL | F | Fr. | 6-11 | 220 | Oakland, Calif. (Bishop O'Dowd HS) |
Kaleb Tarczewski | ARIZ | C | Sr. | 7-0 | 250 | Claremont, N.H. (St. Mark's School) |
Gabe York | ARIZ | G | Sr. | 6-3 | 190 | West Covina, Calif. (Orange Lutheran HS) |
As much as I love Hawkinson and appreciate his savant-like ways on the boards -- he grabs 31 percent of opponents' misses when he's on the floor, 4th best nationally according to kenpom.com -- I just don't see anyone there who makes Hawkinson an obvious snub. I mean ... Kaleb Tarczewski is second team.
Still, this is a nice honor for Hawkinson, who has personified the "WSU developed big man" to a T. There were rough patches of the season for him as opposing coaches rightfully recognized him as one of the only threats the Cougars possessed who could truly hurt opponents, but Hawkinson continued plugging away and put together a nice season, even in the face of adversity.
According to the conference, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year will be unveiled tonight, Monday, March 7 by the Pac-12 Networks on Pac-12 Sports Report that airs at 6 p.m. PT.
WSU is not expected to have anyone in the running for any of those awards.