B1G Awards: Biggie Wins Big

With the conclusion of the Big 10 conference season yesterday, the conference released its post-season awards Monday evening. Purdue was well-represented in the awards, as is befitting the champs.

Caleb Swanigan was a unanimous 1st team All-Big 10 selection by both the coaches and the media, and was the Big 10 Player of the Year as voted on by both panel (he was unanimous among the coaches, but not by the media. Before you ask, Tom Dienhart ended up voting for Swanigan, so quit @-ing him.) 

Other Boilers receiving awards: Vincent Edwards (media 3rd team, coaches honorable mention), Isaac Hass (coaches and media honorable mention), Dakota Mathias (coaches honorable mention, All-Defensive team), and Jon McKeeman (Sportsman Awardee). 

I was not surprised to see Mathias named to the All-Defensive team and not be named the DPOY (despite Dan Dakich's protests to the contrary.) I think the jump he's made since last year has been incredible, and he should be considered one of the favorites for the award next year. I was, however, very surprised to see that he didn't make either of the 3rd teams, given his year-long consistency on both ends of the court. I think it's been made clear over the last couple of weeks that he's Purdue's second-best player, so I think all of this bodes very well for next year. 

Biggie also was named a USA Today 1st Team All-American today as well. Stay tuned as more awards get announced in the coming weeks; expect to see more than a few Caleb Swanigan mentions...