Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The preseason discussion of best players in the Big 12 started with the Kansas duo of Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich. Damion James of Texas was in there, too, along with the Kansas State guard tandem of Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, and Iowa State's Craig Brackins.
As the season progressed, a player who was not in the initial conversation moved ahead of the rest: Oklahoma State's James Anderson.
Shooting his way past more heralded players in the conference, the unassuming, high-scoring junior was named The Associated Press Big 12 player of the year on Monday.
"I don't know if before the season he was the leading candidate," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. "I thought he should be mentioned. But those other guys are great players, great people, have great reputations. I think it's a true case that he played himself into being player of the year. He earned player of the year."
Anderson received 13 votes from a panel of sports writers and sportscasters who cover the conference to become the second Oklahoma State player to earn the award, joining John Lucas in 2004. Collins received two votes and Aldrich one.
Anderson also was a unanimous selection to the Big 12 first team, joining Collins, Aldrich, Pullen and James. Baylor junior forward Ekpe Udoh, a transfer from Michigan, was named newcomer of the year and Colorado guard Alec Burks is the freshman of the year.
Texas A&M's Donald Sloan was voted to the Big 12 second team after being named a first-teamer by the league's coaches on Sunday. Bryan Davis, a third-team choice by the coaches, received honorable mention from the AP.
Davis was also named to the All-Underrated team, and junior B.J. Holmes was tabbed for the All-Reserve team.
Anderson stood out with consistency and multiplicity.
He led the Big 12 in scoring with 22.9 points per game and bumped it up to 24.1 points in the Big 12, fifth-best in conference history. Anderson scored at least 20 points in every conference game and had five 30-point games.
Udoh helped take Baylor from a spot in the NIT championship game last year to legitimate contender for an NCAA tournament berth this season.
The athletic, 6-foot-10 junior was a dominating force on defense, setting a Big 12 single-season record with 123 blocked shots, including 57 in conference, another record. Udoh showed an impressive game around the basket, averaging 13.4 points per game, and was second in the Big 12 with 9.8 rebounds per game.
Burks had no trouble making the transition to college ball. The heralded high school player from Grandview, Mo., led Big 12 freshmen in scoring with 16.8 points per game -- seventh-best nationally -- and led the conference in field goal shooting at 53 percent.
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.