http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3705749.html UT's Aldridge picked as Big 12's best on defense; Self leads coaches By TERRANCE HARRIS Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES FIRST TEAM Player School Pos. Cl. Richard Roby Colorado G So. Brandon Rush Kansas G Fr. L. Aldridge Texas F So. P.J. Tucker Texas F Jr. Jarrius Jackson Texas Tech G Jr. SECOND TEAM Player School Pos. Cl. Curtis Stinson Iowa St. G Jr. Cartier Martin Kansas St. F Jr. Terrell Everett Oklahoma G Sr. Taj Gray Oklahoma F Sr. Joseph Jones Texas A&M F So. HONORS • Player of the Year: P.J. Tucker, Texas • Defensive Player of the Year: LaMarcus Aldridge, Texas • Newcomer of the Year: Michael Neal, Oklahoma • Freshman of the Year: Brandon Rush, Kansas • Coach of the Year: Bill Self, Kansas A day after earning a share of the Big 12 regular season title, the Texas Longhorns took home two of the league's biggest honors on Monday. Junior forward P.J. Tucker was named Big 12 Player of the Year and sophomore postman LaMarcus Aldridge received Defensive Player of the Year recognition as the highlight of the league's All-Big 12 selections. Tucker and Aldridge joined Texas Tech junior guard Jarrius Jackson, Colorado sophomore guard Richard Roby and Kansas freshman forward Brandon Rush as members of the first team. Tucker, a 6-5 forward, was the unanimous Player of the Year pick after leading the Longhorns and ranking sixth in the conference in scoring with a 16.1 average, to go along with a league-leading 9.0 rebounds. Tucker, who missed the second half of last season after being ruled academically ineligible, is the first Longhorn to win the Player of the Year award. "To go through what he went through a year ago, he had to step back and look at a lot of things," coach Rick Barnes said. "I've often said his greatest strength is his stubbornness and his greatest weakness is his stubbornness. "The fact is for the first time, a year ago he decided to maybe listen better and get help from people. He did it and he deserves all the credit." Tucker teamed with the 6-10 Aldridge to form one of the toughest frontcourts in the country. Aldridge and his range have been a force inside, and he blocked a Big-12 best 59 shots (27 in league games). Double-double expert Aldridge, an anticipated lottery pick in the NBA draft if he elects to come out, also has 81 defensive rebounds and leads the Big 12 with 13 double-doubles. "LaMarcus hasn't even started in terms of how good he is going to be," Barnes said. "I don't know if I've ever coached a guy who wants to be coached as much as LaMarcus does. He just embraces it. "He got a great work ethic and he's very mature. He is a guy who I think sees things a little bit different. He wants to be special and to do that he is willing to do all the things that it takes to be a special player." Oklahoma junior college transfer guard Michael Neal was named Newcomer of the Year. He has provided instant offense as a precision 3-point shooter (.495) and averages 3.86 3-point shots per game. "Whoever got Mike Neal was getting an impact guard, and we obviously knew that coming in," said Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson. "A lot of times shooters are one-trick ponies. Michael is an outstanding shooter who happens to be a really good basketball player." Kansas' Bill Self was named Coach of the Year after guiding a young team to a share of the conference title. Rush was named Freshman of the Year after finishing as the league's top-scoring freshman with 15.1 points to go along with 6.6 rebounds. Awards for Aggies Texas A&M forward Joseph Jones was named to the second team along with Kansas State forward Cartier Martin of Nimitz High School. A&M guard Acie Law joined UT forward Brad Buckman and guard Daniel Gibson on third team. The All-Big 12 awards are voted on by conference coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players. terrance.harris@chron.com
He shouldn't win based on that one bone-headed play last week, alone. Just kidding. Great player and hopefully no more mental lapses for the next three weeks or so!
I think he'll be back, he would be lucky to be a 1st Round pick this year, but a good showing next season could move him pretty high. As far as his game, it's going to be very interesting to watch. There have been plenty of short guys that have been able to succeed at PF (Barkley, Williamson, Hayes? ) but 6-5 is pretty damn short. He could provide some matchup problems at SF, he needs to improve his shot but it has been coming along quite nicely IMO. Conversely, the faster SF's in the NBA would absolutely abuse PJ on defense.
PJ will more than likely stay another year at texas but after watching him for the last 3 years, i see him becoming a good nba player. he now consistently knocks down the mid range jumper and has excellent lateral movement and quickness on both offense and defense. he has great strength and athleticism, and even though he is only 6'5, he boxes better than anyone in the country, that's how gets all his rebounds despite being a couple inches shorter than most PF's in the nation. he plays extremely hard and with a lot of passion, along with brad buckman he is one of the leaders for the horns. his downside is that he lacks a natural postion but if he can continue to work on his jumper and be able to extend it to 18-20 feet, he should be a first round pick. i'd just play him at F, and let him do what he does best. pound SF's in the post and take the larger PF's out to about 10-15 feet and beat them off the dribble.
