Even though their bid for a third consecutive Big Ten title fell just short, the Wisconsin Badgers still have some hardware coming their way. Devin Harris received the conference’s highest individual honor Tuesday when he was named Big Ten Player of the Year. The key cog in the Wisconsin offense, the junior point guard averaged 20.9 points per game in Big Ten play, second in the conference.
“It wasn’t that big of a surprise,” Harris said. “I’d like to have the other title, the team accolades, but that’s something that comes along with playing well for my teammates, I guess.”
Harris first got the news via an anonymous phone call Monday night. He is the fifth player in school history to be named conference player of the year. Don Rehfeldt last garnered the honor in 1950.
“It was a result of team play and how we played the game,” Harris said, “and accolades come along with winning.”
Harris’s 2.21 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked fourth in the league. He finished conference play second in three-point field goals per game at 2.75. His 3.88 steals per contest, .830 free-throw percentage and .419 three-point percentage were all good for sixth, while his 1.62 steals per game placed seventh.
“It’s nice and all, but we’ve still got more basketball to play,” Harris said. “What do I get, a piece of paper or something? I’ll hang it in a trophy case and add it to all the other stuff, but we’ve still got more basketball to play.”
He is joined on the first team by Illinois’ Deron Williams, Northwestern’s Jitim Young, Michigan State’s Paul Davis and Kris Humphries of Minnesota, who also claimed Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Humphries edged out Harris for the conference scoring title by one-tenth of a point per game. Harris is the only unanimous first-team selection.
“Coming from the coaches, it means a lot, it gave me a lot of confidence,” Harris said. “We have a lot of good coaches in this league. It means a lot to know that they gave me that kind of recognition.”
Harris led the Badgers to a 12-4 conference record, one game behind Big Ten champion Illinois. He split the Preseason Player of the Year award with Illini guard Dee Brown, with the media picking Brown and the coaches selecting Harris.
“Preseason, I still don’t know why (they picked me),” Harris said. “There’s so many more people they could have picked. I had a really good season, I contributed a lot to my teammates, so to win something along with it is more of their award than mine.”
One of those teammates, forward Mike Wilkinson, was named second-team all-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media. The 6-foot-8 junior from Blue Mounds, Wis. averaged 13.9 points per game in conference play this season.
“I got back from lunch today and my boss I worked for this summer called me. He was the first one to tell me,” Wilkinson said. “I really didn’t have a clue. I was busy with classes all day today.”
In addition to his scoring, Wilkinson pulled down 7.5 rebounds per game, good for third in the Big Ten. Of those rebounds, 2.88 per contest came on the offensive glass. He also ranked fourth in blocked shots (1.38 per game) and eighth in field goal percentage (.528).
“I shot the ball a little better this year, which definitely helped some of the numbers,” Wilkinson said. “Overall, I think I was a little more consistent throughout my game. The scoring wasn’t there every game, but I think I did most everything else pretty well, or at least pretty consistent. I was always trying to find some way to help the team; I think that’s a big thing that came up this year. I felt a little quicker and I was able to maintain my weight and energy level a lot better this year.”
Other second-team selections were Brown, Michigan State’s Chris Hill, Kenneth Lowe of Purdue and Bracey Wright of Indiana.
“Mike did a great job,” Harris said. “I thought second team was a good fit. With the guys on the first team, I think the way he played it shows a lot that he was recognized too.”
Lowe also captured his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Bill Carmody became the first Northwestern coach to be named Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Both Harris and Wilkinson would much rather have captured their third-straight Big Ten conference championship than garner individual honors.
“I would rather make an equal trade and win three straight for us; I think that means a lot more to the guys,” Harris said. “But, I’ll take this one, I guess, if I have to.”
“It feels good, but there are some other things we want to get accomplished,” Wilkinson said. “I’m happy for what we accomplished now, but we still have more we want to get done.”
This season marks the first time in Wisconsin history that the school has boasted a consensus pick to both the first and second all-Big Ten teams.
