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The Pac-12 regular season is over and now it’s time to hand out the awards that everyone is talking about.
Player of the Year: As with the following two awards this one is easy as Arizona sophomore wing Benn Mathurin checks off every box.
Not only is Mathurin the best player in the conference, he is the one who at his peak is the most unstoppable and can score at all three levels. He is one of the best perimeter players to come through Tucson in the last 20 years.
Mathurin also moonlights as the best NBA prospect in the conference.
Coach of the Year: for a team picked to finish fourth in the conference nobody has outperformed expectations more than Tommy Lloyd’s team has. Yes, he inherited a talented roster but this was a team with a lot of question marks and Lloyd has brought the best out of all his players.
Gone are the days of trying to fit a square player peg into a stubborn coach hole. In is a coach who looks to maximize his players abilities while limiting their weaknesses. This figures to be the first of many COY awards for Lloyd.
Defensive Player of the Year: perhaps no player was more emblematic of the Tommy Lloyd program transformation than the junior center from Cameroon. In the past Koloko appeared unsure of himself on both sides of the court. Now, he’s arguably the best defensive big man in the country and a player who has improved tremendously offensively.
Newcomer of the Year: USC point guard Boogie Ellis probably won’t win this award but he’s been the most impactful conference newcomer for a team that matters.
All conference team: Benn Mathurin (Arizona), Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona) Christian Koloko (Arizona), Johnny Juzang (UCLA), Tyger Campbell (UCLA), Drew Peterson (USC), Isaiah Mobley (USC), Will Richardson (Oregon), Terrell Brown (Washington), Jabari Walker (Colorado)
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