The Big Ten coaches and media voting panel announced their 2008-09 All-Big Ten Men’s Basketball teams today, as well as other individual honors. Michigan’s Manny Harris was voted to the first team by both, while Sims was voted to the second team by the media and third by the coaches.
Fifth-year senior C.J. Lee was Michigan’s representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, which is given to 11 players, one from each team. Michigan State guard Kalin Lucas was voted Big Ten Player of the Year by the coaches and media, while Spartan coach Tom Izzo was voted Coach of the Year by his peers. Penn State coach Ed Dechellis was the media’s choice.
The media and coaches both selected the following first team: Harris, Lucas, Talor Battle (Penn State), Evan Turner (Ohio State) and JaJuan Johnson (Purdue). Turner was the only player that was a unanimous selection by both sets of voters.
All five first team players are sophomores and although a few may test the NBA waters, don’t be surprised to see them all back on the list next year.