altman.JPG

Oregon basketball coach Dana Altman

(Photo by Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian)

Oregon's Dana Altman was named Pac-12 coach of the year today in a vote among coaches after his Ducks contended for the conference title throughout the season, before ultimately finishing in third place.

Altman led the Ducks to a 23-8 finish (12-6 in conference) in his third season in Eugene, and in a year in which UO was a preseason selection to finish seventh in the Pac-12. They open Pac-12 tournament play on Thursday night in Las Vegas against either Washington or Washington State.

Altman has now won coach of the year honors five times in four different conferences -- the Pac-12, the Missouri Valley (Creighton in 2001, 2002), the Big Eight (Kansas State in 1993) and the Southern (Marshall in 1990).

Several individual players with local ties also were singled out.

From Oregon, E.J. Singler (1st-team all-conference), Arsalan Kazemi (honorable mention all-conference, defensive team) and Damyean Dotson (all-freshman team) were honored. From Oregon State, Roberto Nelson (honorable mention all-conference) and Eric Moreland (defensive team honorable mention) were honored.

Other awards:

Player of the year: Cal junior guard Allen Crabbe

Freshmen of the year: Arizona State guard Jahii Carson, UCLA guard Shabazz Muhammad

Defensive player of the year: Colorado junior forward Andre Roberson

Most improved player of the year: Stanford junior forward Dwight Powell

Coach of the year: Oregon's Dana Altman

Here are the full conference postseason honors:

FIRST TEAM



G Jahii Carson (ASU)

G Allen Crabbe (Cal)

G Spencer Dinwiddie (Colorado)

G Larry Drew II (UCLA)

F Solomon Hill (Arizona)

G Mark Lyons (Arizona)

G/F Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA)

F Dwight Powell (Stanford)

F Andre Roberson (Colorado)

F E.J. Singler (Oregon)

SECOND TEAM



G Kyle Anderson (UCLA)

G Justin Cobbs (Cal)

G/F Carrick Felix (ASU)

F Brock Motum (Washington State)

G C.J. Wilcox (Washington)

HONORABLE MENTION



G Jio Fontan (USC)

F Arsalan Kazemi (Oregon)

G Roberto Nelson (Oregon State)

G Jason Washburn (Utah)

F Eric Wise (USC)

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM



G Kyle Anderson (UCLA)

G Jahii Carson (ASU)

G Damyean Dotson (Oregon)

G/F Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA)

F Josh Scott (Colorado)

(Honorable mention: G Jordan Adams, UCLA; C Kaleb Tarczewski, Arizona)

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM



C Jordan Bachynski (ASU)

G/F Carrick Felix (ASU)

F Josh Huestis (Stanford)

F Arsalan Kazemi (Oregon)

F Andre Roberson (Colorado)

(Honorable mention: G Nick Johnson, Arizona;

F Eric Moreland, Oregon State

)