Ohio State Buckeyes | Ohio State University Athletics

March 5, 2002

Park Ridge, IL – For the second straight year, a sophomore collected the Big Ten’s highest honor as Indiana’s Jared Jeffries was chosen as the Conference Player of the Year in voting by both the coaches and media. Illinois junior Frank Williams was honored as the Player of the Year for 2001. Jeffries, the League’s only unanimous All-Big Ten First Team pick this season and the 2001 Freshman of the Year, is the second Hoosier in the past three years to be named Conference Player of the Year, as A.J. Guyton was honored in 2000. Jeffries led Indiana to a share of its first Big Ten Championship since 1993 while topping the League with 2.13 blocked shots per game and ranking among the top 10 in rebounding (2nd with 7.9 rpg), steals (6th with 1.50 spg) and scoring (7th with 15.1 ppg). The IU sophomore led his team and was the only Big Ten player to appear in the top 10 in each of those categories.

Other individual honors include Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan being named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the media, the first Badger head coach to earn that distinction. Ryan led Wisconsin to a share of its first Big Ten Championship in 55 years, as the last UW League title came in 1947.

A pair of Minnesota players earned individual honors, as Rick Rickert was named the Conference Freshman of Year and Travarus Bennett shared Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year accolades with Indiana’s Dane Fife. Rickert is the first Gopher to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after leading all Conference freshmen in scoring (14.1 ppg) and blocks (1.30) while rating third in rebounding (5.3 rpg). Bennett and Fife are also the first players from their respective schools to earn Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors (selected by the coaches), as Bennett led the Big Ten in steals with 2.31 per game and Fife rated seventh with 1.50 picks per contest in League games only.

The 2002 All-Big Ten team featured youth, as eight members of the First- and Second-Team have eligibility remaining, while each of the four Conference co-champs were represented. Both the coaches’ and media First-Team All-Big Ten squads featured these players: Jeffries, Illinois’ Frank Williams, Michigan State’s Marcus Taylor, Ohio State’s Brian Brown and Wisconsin’s Kirk Penney. Jeffries was the only unanimous selection while Williams was the only player to earn First-Team honors for the second straight season.

2001-02 All-Big Ten Men’s Basketball Team

As selected by Big Ten coaches

FIRST TEAM
Brian Brown, Ohio State
Jared Jeffries, Indiana*
Kirk Penney, Wisconsin
Marcus Taylor, Michigan State
Frank Williams, Illinois

SECOND TEAM
Brian Cook, Illinois
Tom Coverdale, Indiana
Brent Darby, Ohio State
Reggie Evans, Iowa
Rick Rickert, Minnesota

THIRD TEAM
Robert Archibald, Illinois
Willie Deane, Purdue
Tavaras Hardy, Northwestern
Luke Recker, Iowa
Dusty Rychart, Minnesota

HONORABLE MENTION
Travarus Bennett, Minnesota
Winston Blake, Northwestern
Charlie Wills, Wisconsin

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
JARED JEFFRIES, Indiana

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
RICK RICKERT, Minnesota

CO-DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
Dane Fife, Indiana, and Travarus Bennett, Minnesota

* unanimous

Repeat Performers
First Team: Williams, Second Team: Evans, Third Team: None. Note: Jeffries was named to the coaches’ second-team in 2001, Cook was a third-team pick, and Brown and Recker were honorable mention selections.

As selected by Big Ten media

FIRST TEAM
Brian Brown, Ohio State
Jared Jeffries, Indiana*
Kirk Penney, Wisconsin
Marcus Taylor, Michigan State
Frank Williams, Illinois

SECOND TEAM
Brian Cook, Illinois
Tom Coverdale, Indiana
Willie Deane, Purdue
Reggie Evans, Iowa
Rick Rickert, Minnesota

THIRD TEAM
Adam Ballinger, Michigan State
LaVell Blanchard, Michigan
Brent Darby, Ohio State
Luke Recker, Iowa
Dusty Rychart, Minnesota

HONORABLE MENTION
Robert Archibald, Illinois
Boban Savovic, Ohio State
Sharif Chambliss, Penn State

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jared Jeffries, Indiana

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
RICK RICKERT, Minnesota

COACH OF THE YEAR:
Bo Ryan, Wisconsin

* unanimous

Repeat Performers
First Team: Williams, Second Team: Cook, Evans, Third Team: None. Note: Blanchard was named to the media second-team in 2001, Brown and Jeffries were third-team picks and Recker was an honorable mention selection.