Radinovic Earns 3rd Team All-Big Ten Honors – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2004
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COLUMBUS, Ohio–Velimir Radinovic was selected 2004 Third Team All-Big Ten by the Big Ten men’s basketball coaches and as a member of the honorable mention squad by the league’s media.
Radinovic, a 7-foot senior center for the Buckeyes, led the Big Ten in field goal shooting percentage, connecting on 65.2 percent of his shots (107-164) this year. In league play, he connected on 64.4 percent (65-101) to lead the conference.
As a rebounder, Radinovic, a native of Oakville, Ontario near Toronto, was No. 10 in the league with an average of 6.1 a contest. In Big Ten play, he rated No. 6 in overall rebounds with 6.8 a game. On the offensive end, he averaged 2.86 rebounds in all games to rank No. 3 in the league and in Big Ten games grabbed 3.0 offensive rebounds to hold down the No. 2 spot.
For his career, Radinovic has scored 749 (6.8 ppg.) points with 471 (4.3 rpg.) rebounds in 110 career appearances, which includes 81 starts.
With 61 career blocked shots, he rates No. 8 all time at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes play next against Indiana in the opening round of the 2004 Big Ten Tournament at noon Thursday in Indianapolis. The game will be televised by ESPN.
RELEASE FROM THE BIG TEN OFFICE
Wisconsin’s Devin Harris Named Big Ten Player of the Year by Coaches and Media
Three other schools split remaining individual honors as Purdue’s Kenneth Lowe repeats as Defensive Player of the Year, Northwestern’s Bill Carmody earns Coach of the Year honors and Minnesota’s Kris Humphries garners Freshman of the Year accolades Park Ridge, IL – Wisconsin’s Devin Harris became the first Badgers standout in school history to earn the Big Ten’s highest honor as he was chosen as the Conference Player of the Year in voting by both the coaches and the media. Harris is the third underclassmen to collect the award in the past four years, along with sophomores Jared Jeffries of Indiana (2002) and Frank Williams of Illinois (2001), and the first junior to be honored since Michigan State’s Mateen Cleaves and Ohio State’s ScooniePenn shared the award in 1999. Harris, who was named the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year by the coaches back in October, was also the lone unanimous All-Conference First Team selection after guiding the Badgers to a 12-4 League record, just one game shy of a third straight title. The 6-3 guard ranked second in Big Ten games only with 20.9 points per game, just percentage points off the League lead, as he nearly doubled his scoring average of 10.6 points per outing from a year ago. Harris also rated among the top 10 in three-pointers made (2nd at 2.75), assist-to-turnover ratio (4th at 2.21), assists (6th with 3.88) and steals (7th with 1.62).
Purdue’s Kenneth Lowe became just the fourth player in Big Ten annals to collect Defensive Player of the Year accolades in consecutive seasons, as he joins Ohio State’s KenJohnson (2000-01), Michigan’s Gary Grant (1987-88) and Illinois’ Bruce Douglas (1985-86) as two-time winners. Lowe is the third Boilermaker in school history to nab the award along with Porter Roberts (1996) and Ricky Hall (1984). The senior guard helped Purdue rank among the top two in the League for all games in scoring defense (2nd at 60.2 ppg), field goal percentage defense (2nd at .408) and three-point field goal percentage defense (1st at .291).
Northwestern’s Bill Carmody was tabbed as the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the media, making him the first Wildcat mentor to collect that honor in the 32-year history of the award. Carmody’s squad produced an 8-8 mark this season, the best finish of his four years in Evanston and the first .500 record for the program in more than 35 years, as the 1967-68 team was the last to accomplish that feat with a record of 8-6.
Minnesota’s Kris Humphries was the clear choice as the Conference Freshman of the Year by both coaches and media after becoming the first frosh in Big Ten history to lead the way in both scoring and rebounding. He edged Harris for the Big Ten scoring title in the final game of the regular season to average 21.0 points per outing while topping all players with 9.5 boards per contest. Humphries became just the sixth player in League annals to lead in both categories and the first since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson accomplished the feat as a sophomore during the 1994 campaign. The 6-9 forward is the second Gopher to earn the award in the last three years, as Rick Rickert became the first Minnesota honoree in 2002. Humphries was joined by four other first-year standouts on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, as the five-man squad also included Michigan’s Dion Harris and Courtney Sims, Michigan State’s Shannon Brown and Penn State’s Marlon Smith.
The 2004 All-Big Ten teams were dominated by underclassmen, as 12 of the 16 selections have a chance to return to their teams next season. Both First Team All-Big Ten squads included Harris, Humphries, sophomores Deron Williams of Illinois and Paul Davis of Michigan State and senior Jitim Young of Northwestern. Each of those standouts collected First Team honors for the first time in their careers, as Harris and Young earned All-League honors for the second straight season.
