Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner was selected Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth straight season on Monday, joining Georgetown great Patrick Ewing as the only players to accomplish the feat.
The 7-foot-1 senior led the league with 80 blocks for the Bluejays (22-9, 15-5), the No. 2 seed in this week’s conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.
Ewing won the award every year from 1982-85 before going on to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA.
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St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor was chosen Most Improved Player, UConn big man Tarris Reed Jr. took the Sixth Man Award, and Xavier forward Jerome Hunter received the Sportsmanship Award.
[Read more: Tarris Reed Jr.’s untapped potential could fuel UConn’s quest for a three-peat]
Big East head coaches vote for the awards and are not allowed to pick their own players.
Kalkbrenner, who has never fouled out of a game, is a top contender for conference Player of the Year, too. He and Ejiofor were on the All-Big East first team announced Sunday, along with Kam Jones of Marquette, RJ Luis Jr. of St. John’s, Eric Dixon of Villanova and Micah Peavy of Georgetown. Kalkbrenner, Jones, Luis and Dixon were unanimous selections.
The award for Player of the Year will go to one of those six on Wednesday, when Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year will also be revealed during a news conference at MSG a few hours before the Big East Tournament begins.
Ejiofor, a 6-foot-9 junior and team captain, is averaging 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game for No. 6 St. John’s (27-4, 18-2), which won its first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years. He averaged 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds last season.
The 6-foot-10 Reed is averaging 10 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 67% from the field in 20.2 minutes per game for the Huskies (22-9, 14-6), the two-time defending NCAA champions. He leads the team with 52 blocks and has seven double-doubles off the bench, most in the nation.
Hunter, a 6-8 graduate student, has fought through cardiac issues and a torn ACL that caused him to miss last season. He is averaging 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per game for the Musketeers (21-10, 13-7).
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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