The Big Ten announced Wednesday that Wisconsin men’s basketball juniors Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koening earned spots on the conference’s all-Big Ten squad.
Hayes was chosen unanimously by a panel of the league’s media.
The honor comes as a first for both players, and marked the second-straight season two Badgers have earned the honor. Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker made the cut last season.
Men’s basketball: Hayes, Koenig named to preseason watch lists for positional awards
On a team featuring three future NBA players (Kaminsky, Dekker and Duje Dukkan) both Hayes and Koening had breakout sophomore campaigns.
Hayes finished 2014-15 ranked second in rebounds per game (6.2) and poured in 12.4 points per contest. Koening assumed starting point guard duties when Traevon Jackson went down with a foot injury in January and never looked back. Over his 24 starts last season, Koening averaged 11.5 points per game while shooting 44.2 percent from three-point range.
Under head coach Bo Ryan, 12 players have now made preseason all-Big Ten teams. Michigan State has had just as many selections in that time span.
Joining Hayes and Koening this year are Indiana’s James Blackmon Jr. and Yogi Ferrell, Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff, Maryland’s Jake Layman and Melo Trimble, Michigan’s Caris LeVert, Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Purdue’s A.J. Hammons.
Trimble was selected as the conference’s preseason Player of the Year.
