Washington senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning was selected as the Pac-10 Conference’s Most Improved Player and joined junior guard Isaiah Thomas on the 10-member all-conference team.
Washington State’s Klay Thompson, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, also was named to the all-conference team.
Husky guard C.J. Wilcox made the six-member All-Freshman team along with UCLA center Joshua Smith from Kentwood High. Husky guard Terrence Ross was an honorable mention.
“Its an honor, but were trying to win bigger and better things, trying to win a Pac-10 championship,” said Thomas on his third all-conference selection.
UW coach Lorenzo Romar added, “This is Isaiahs third all-conference award. First year, he was second team. This is a repeat of last year when he was on the first team. I think its great, I think he deserves it, no doubt. If we could have done a better job as a team he could have been in there for Player of the Year as well.
“Matthew, for him to be the most improved player in the conference, voted by the coaches, just shows his tremendous improvement and development. He definitely deserved it, he played as well as any of the top three big men in the league this year.”
The five-member All-Defensive team did not include Husky senior guard Venoy Overton. He was considered one of the top defenders in the country but injuries cut into his effectiveness this season. Washington State’s DeAngelo Casto made the defensive team. Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday were honorable mentions.
Arizona sophomore forward Derrick Williams, the Pac-10’s second leading scorer, was selected as the Player of the Year. California guard Allen Crabbe was tabbed as Freshman of the Year, USC’s Marcus Simmons earned Defensive Player of the Year and Sean Miller was named Coach of the Year in guiding the Wildcats to the regular-season title.
Bryan-Amaning, a 6-foot-9 forward from London, England, is sixth in scoring, 16.0, and fourth in rebounding, 8.3. He has 10 double-doubles this season. He became the 36th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Thomas and Thompson were both considered to be viable candidates for the top player award but both players and their teams struggled down the stretch.
Joining them on the all-conference team are Williams, UCLA’s Malcolm Lee, Reeves Nelson and Tyler Honeycutt, Stanford’s Jeremy Green, Cal’s Jorge Gutierrez and USC’s Nikola Vucevic. Interestingly enough, Bryan-Amaning is the only senior on the team.
Casto made the second team along with Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham, Oregon’s Joevan Catron, Arizona State’s Trent Lockett and Cal’s Harper Kamp.
