Alexander named to All-Big East First Team

Mountaineer All-BIG EAST First-Teamers:

• Joe Alexander, 2008
• Frank Young, 2007
• Mike Gansey, 2006
• Kevin Pittsnogle, 2006
• Calvin Bowman, 2001
• Damian Owens, 1998

Congratulations to Joe for his first-team All-Big East selection. Even though there are now 11 members of the first team (I guess that’s what happens in a 16-team league), it was a big step for Joe to take. While he was solid for most of the year, following the groin injury in the middle of the Big East schedule he was not playing great basketball and Huggins was calling him out publicly on the floor every night. Joe was probably a borderline second-team selection before completely busting out in the last three games on the season, putting up 32, 32 and 29 points in the last three games against pretty stout competition from UConn, Pitt, and St. John’s. For the season, Joe averaged 16.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while recording five double-doubles, three of those coming in conference play. The rest of your all-conference performers:

• Jeff Adrien, Connecticut
• Kentrell Gransberry, South Florida
• Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
• Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
• Brian Laing, Seton Hall
• Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame
• David Padgett, Louisville
• A.J. Price, Connecticut
• Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati
• Sam Young, Pitt

One thing I can say for sure is that scoring and hype matter above all in deciding all-conference teams. Of these ten, three were the leading scorers in the Big East (Harangody, Laing, Young) and another three were top ten scorers (Vaughn, Gransberry, Alexander). Price was the Big East assists leader. Leaving on the list Adrien is a top five rebounder in the league while McAlarney was one of the best three-point shooters as well as a sentimental comeback story. David Padgett missed a large part of the season, but many point to him as the piece Louisville had to have for their successful conference run, and Padgett shot a league-leading 68.6 field goal percentage.Which leaves Hibbert, preseason player-of-the-year to the hype machine. Look, Georgetown wins the conference and you have to put somebody on the all-conference team. And Hibbert is probably their best player, leading the Hoyas in scoring and rebounding. But Georgetown has such a different, team-centric approach that just doesn’t hash out big numbers for star players. That said, Hibbert’s numbers are nowhere in the neighborhood of the other first-team selection. Hibbert ranks 19th among conference scorers and rebounders and the only statitstic he has a significant rank in is blocked shots, third in the Big East. I would have left Hibbert out. Eleven is such an odd number anyway. Why not 16, then you could have one player from each team? Why not turn it into “everybody gets a trophy” Little League-style?

Tags: All-Big East, David Padgett, Joe Alexander, Kyle McAlarney, Roy Hibbert