Our Honor Defend

Aaron Craft in his natural habitat.

Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger are earned more hardware in the last 24 hours, to go along with their two regular season B1G championships and 2011 B1G Tournament title. Craft was named the 2012 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, while Sully earned 2012 First Team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and the media. Craft was also selected by the coaches to the 2012 B1G All-Defensive Team. Senior William Buford, hero of Sunday’s game at Michigan State, was named to both the coaches and media’s second team All-B1G team. Deshaun Thomas made the coaches second team and media’s third team. The media named Craft to their third team, but he was only an honorable mention selection by the coaches, in a complete travesty of justice. But hey, points are much sexier than defense.

Craft led the conference and is 12th nationally with 2.4 steals per game and has climbed to 10th in school history in steals in less than two full seasons. His 75 steals this season are the second most in OSU history to Mike Conley’s 87. He is widely regarded as the best on-ball defender in the game, and routinely shuts down the opposing team’s point guard. As Vico often points out, he’s also damn dreamy.

Michigan State’s Draymond Green was the media’s only unanimous selection to the All-B1G first squad, and he received POY honors from both the media and coaches. Here are the complete teams:

MEDIA SELECTIONS (Unanimous selections in all caps)

FIRST TEAM
DRAYMOND GREEN, Michigan State
John Shurna, Northwestern
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Robbie Hummel, Purdue

SECOND TEAM
Cody Zeller, Indiana
Matt Gatens, Iowa
Trey Burke, Michigan
William Buford, Ohio State
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin

THIRD TEAM
Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan
Keith Appling, Michigan State
Drew Crawford, Northwestern
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State

HONORABLE MENTION
Meyers Leonard, Illinois
Brandon Paul, Illinois
Jordan Hulls, Indiana
Victor Oladipo, Indiana
Christian Watford, Indiana
Aaron White, Iowa
Zack Novak, Michigan
Branden Dawson, Michigan State
D.J. Byrd, Purdue
Lewis Jackson, Purdue
Jared Berggren, Wisconsin
Ryan Evans, Wisconsin

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Draymond Green, Michigan State

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Trey Burke, Michigan

COACH OF THE YEAR
Tom Izzo, Michigan State

COACHES SELECTIONS (Unanimous selections in all caps)

FIRST TEAM
DRAYMOND GREEN, Michigan State
John Shurna, Northwestern
Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Robbie Hummel, Purdue
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin

SECOND TEAM
Cody Zeller, Indiana
Trey Burke, Michigan
William Buford, Ohio State
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Tim Frazier, Penn State

THIRD TEAM
Brandon Paul, Illinois
Matt Gatens, Iowa
Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan
Keith Appling, Michigan State
Drew Crawford, Northwestern

HONORABLE MENTION
Meyers Leonard, Illinois
Christian Watford, Indiana
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Lewis Jackson, Purdue
Jared Berggren, Wisconsin
Ryan Evans, Wisconsin

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
CODY ZELLER, Indiana
Aaron White, Iowa
TREY BURKE, Michigan
Branden Dawson, Michigan State
Dave Sobolewski, Northwestern

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Victor Oladipo, Indiana
Draymond Green, Michigan State
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Josh Gasser, Wisconsin

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Draymond Green, Michigan State

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Aaron Craft, Ohio State

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Cody Zeller, Indiana

SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
D.J. Byrd, Purdue

COACH OF THE YEAR
Tom Izzo, Michigan State

In addition, Sullinger was named to The Sporting News All-America First Team for the second straight year. He was the magazine’s Freshman of the Year and a first teamer in 2011. The accolades for Sully seem puzzling to some folks, given that he’s had a bit of inconsistency in his sophomore year. All you have to do is look at his numbers though. In the nation’s toughest conference, which has been even more difficult than last season, Sully finished third in scoring and second in rebounding. This despite being the focal point of every defense Ohio State faces. What other teams are saying is, “We know you have this terrific post player that drives your team and we are going to shut him down.” /fails to shut him down.

Joining Sully on The Sporting News team are: Anthony Davis (Kentucky), Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Thomas Robinson (Kansas), and Sparty’s Green.

“I’m extremely proud of the recognition our student-athletes earned this year,” Matta said. “Our league proved to be the best in the country time-and-time again. Earning a spot on any of the Top 3 All-Big Ten teams is a tremendous accomplishment. William, Jared, Deshaun and Aaron represented our team throughout the year and were rewarded with a third-consecutive conference title.”