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Archives for March 9, 2026

BIG EAST: Announces Four Awards

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The BIG EAST Conference announced the winners of four individual awards for the 2025-26 men’s basketball season. The league’s head coaches make their selections and they are not permitted to vote for their own players.

Zuby Ejiofor from St. John’s has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. A pair of Villanova players captured two awards – Tyler Perkins has been tabbed BIG EAST Most Improved Player, while Devin Askew has been chosen for the BIG EAST Sixth Man Award. Creighton’s Josh Dix has been named the winner of the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award.

Ejiofor has been recognized nationally as a member of the Naismith Men’s College Defensive Player of the Year Late-Season team. An All-BIG EAST First Team selection, he has blocked 61 shots and his 1.97 blocks per game average ranks him 27th in the country. In BIG EAST play, Ejiofor ranks third in the conference, registering 1.75 blocks per outing. He has also tallied 36 steals and is one of only two players nationally to tally at least 30 steals and 60 blocked shots in the 2025-26 regular season. Earlier this season, Ejiofor blocked 20 shots over a three-game span from Dec. 6-16. He is the only player in the country to block at least 20 shots over a three-game stretch this season and is the first BIG EAST player to have 20 swats over three games since the 2013-14 campaign.

Perkins has been a key contributor in Villanova’s turnaround season, leading the Wildcats in scoring – and ranking eighth in the BIG EAST – at 15.2 points per game in conference play. The 6-4 guard is also averaging 6.2 rebounds per game. Year-over-year, the junior has seen his overall scoring average jump by 7.4 points, while seeing marked improvements in his field goal and 3-point percentages. In BIG EAST play, Perkins is scoring better than 10 points per game, ranking 10th in the league in 3-pointers per game (1.89). He was named to the All-BIG EAST Third Team.

Askew has been one of the top reserve players in the country this season for Villanova. The 6-5 guard is averaging 10.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 23 minutes per game in league play, coming off the bench in 19 BIG EAST contests before earning the start on Senior Day against Xavier on March 7. Askew is one of four power conference reserves to average double figures off the bench (min. one start or fewer). He has scored in double figures in 13 games and has made multiple 3-pointers on 16 occasions. Askew has made 63 3-pointers on the season, connecting at a 42.3% clip from beyond the arc.

Throughout his first season in Omaha, Creighton senior guard Josh Dix has demonstrated incredible strength and resilience. In early February, on the morning of a gameday at Georgetown, Dix found out that he lost his mother Kelly to breast cancer. Through 31 games, the 6-6 guard has averaged a team-best 12.7 points to go with 3.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. Dix has leaned on many people, including teammates, during this trying time. “I couldn’t do it alone,” Dix said. “My family, my teammates, my coaches, they all stick by my side. I try not to be alone; I try to be around people who want to see you do well.”

The BIG EAST will announce the remaining individual awards: BIG EAST Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete on Wednesday, March 11, in a press conference at 1:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. The BIG EAST Media Award will also be presented.

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BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s

BIG EAST Most Improved Player
Tyler Perkins, Villanova

BIG EAST Sixth Man Award
Devin Askew, Villanova

BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award
Josh Dix, Creighton

Ejiofor Heads All-Big East Teams

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor was a unanimous first team selection as the conference has announced the All-BIG EAST First, Second and Third Teams, All-Freshman Team, and the inaugural All-Defensive Team. The league’s head coaches select the all-conference squads and were not permitted to select their own players.

Ejiofor is a repeat selection on the All-BIG EAST First Team, which features an unprecedented three players from the same school – UConn’s Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr. The other first team selections are Michael Ajayi of Butler and Tre Carroll of Xavier.

The BIG EAST Player of the Year will come from the All-BIG EAST First Team. The conference will announce Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year on March 11, at Madison Square Garden at 1:30 p.m. ET. Other league individual awards, including BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award and Sportsmanship Award will be announced Monday, March 9, at Noon ET.

Ejiofor – the league’s preseason Player of the Year – represents regular season champion St. John’s. He leads the Red Storm – and ranks in the top 10 in BIG EAST play – in four statistical categories: scoring (17.0), rebounding (7.0), assists (4.0), and blocked shots (1.8). He made 56.0% (112-200) of his shot attempts and posted 2.00:1 assist/turnover ratio in league games.

The trio of Huskies marks the first time in league history that three players from the same team were named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Demary leads the BIG EAST in assists (7.3) and is sixth in steals (1.6), while scoring at a 12.2 points per game clip in league play. Karaban was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection a season ago. The senior forward is averaging 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and just under a block and a steal per game in conference play. On Feb. 14, he became the all-time winningest player in UConn history. Reed leads the league and ranks among the top 15 nationally – in field goal percentage, making 63.5% (115-181) of his shot attempts, averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game in league action.

Ajayi finished the regular season ranked sixth in the BIG EAST in scoring (16.3) and first in rebounding (10.5) in conference play. Overall on the season, Ajayi has recorded 17 double doubles – eighth-most nationally.

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Carroll averaged 18.6 points per outing in league play, connecting on better than 52% of his shot attempts. He posted 20 or more points in 10 BIG EAST games this season. The 6-8 forward also averaged 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 blocks in conference play.

The All-BIG EAST Second Team features some of the top guards in the league. UConn’s Solo Ball makes his second straight appearance on the second team, followed by BIG EAST scoring leader Jaylin Sellers of Providence. Additionally, St. John’s guard/forward Bryce Hopkins, Seton Hall’s Budd Clark made the list, followed by Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis.

The All-BIG EAST Third Team has six players due to a tie in the balloting, including a pair of Villanova standouts in Duke Brennan and Tyler Perkins. They are joined by Butler’s Finley Bizjack, Georgetown’s KJ Lewis, Marquette freshman Nigel James Jr., and Dillon Mitchell from St. John’s.

The BIG EAST Freshman of the Year will come from the All-Freshman Team. Four of the five honorees were unanimous selections – UConn’s Braylon Mullins, Marquette’s Nigel James Jr., Providence’s Stefan Vaaks, and Villanova’s Acaden Lewis. Along with Providence’s Jamier Jones, the five All-Freshman honorees accounted for all but two of the Freshman of the Week honors this season.

This season marks the inaugural BIG EAST All-Defensive Team, headlined by unanimous selection Zuby Ejiofor of St. John’s. Joining him is teammate Dillon Mitchell, Seton Hall’s Budd Clark, Silas Demary Jr. of UConn, and Chase Ross of Marquette.

2025-26 BIG EAST All-Conference Teams

All-BIG EAST First Team
Michael Ajayi, Butler
Silas Demary Jr., UConn
Alex Karaban, UConn
Tarris Reed Jr., UConn
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s *
Tre Carroll, Xavier

All-BIG EAST Second Team
Solo Ball, UConn
Jaylin Sellers, Providence
Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s
Budd Clark, Seton Hall
Acaden Lewis, Villanova

All-BIG EAST Third Team
Finley Bizjack, Butler
KJ Lewis, Georgetown
Nigel James Jr., Marquette
Dillon Mitchell, St. John’s
Duke Brennan, Villanova
Tyler Perkins, Villanova

All-Freshman Team
Braylon Mullins, UConn *
Nigel James Jr., Marquette *
Jamier Jones, Providence
Stefan Vaaks, Providence *
Acaden Lewis, Villanova *

All-Defensive Team
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s *
Budd Clark, Seton Hall
Dillon Mitchell, St. John’s
Silas Demary Jr., UConn
Chase Ross, Marquette

*Unanimous Selection

TL’s Sports Notebook | SSAC ’26 Edition

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Daryl Morey, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Sue Bird and Jessica Gelman (SSAC26)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch

BOSTON – On Friday, March 5th, WWYI dropped a “special edition” of this missive to preview the 2026 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (#SSAC26) staged this weekend at the Seapport Convention Center. It was a very successful affair, one where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke in a “1-on-1” with UConn, WNBA and USA Basketball great Sue Bird and then Silver was presented with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by conference co-founders Jessica Gelman (Kraft Group) and Daryl Morey (Philadelphia 76ers), both MIT alum.

There was no ‘show-stopper’ panel or special guest moment at this year’s symposium. There were a dozen or more very interesting panel discussions. There were also tons of interesting start-ups pitching their concepts at convention tables spread out a country mile on the main concourse – at a convention center sharing space with a New England Regional Volleyball Association event that drew some 750 volleyball teams to compete in the Boston/Nike JVC National Qualifying tournament. It was an incredible site, and it looked to be very high-calibre traditional volleyball.

It was also a college volleyball coach’s dream for recruiting, as noted by Cora Thompson, the head coach of the women’s volleyball program at Tufts University. Ms. Thompson entered the year with a .737 career winning percentage which ranks her as No. 18 on the NCAA’s winningest active coaches list for Division III. It’s the 27th-best winning mark among Division III coaches all-time. Last season Tufts went 24-6 but lost in the NCAA Regional Final (to East Texas Baptist University).

Tufts recruits volleyball players without the benefit of shelling-out scholarships but, instead, the opportunity to attend one of the best universities in the land. The eight-time New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Coach of the Year and three-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year was kind enough to educate this columnist on a shuttle bus ride from the Convention Center’s “South Parking Lot” to the building’s entrance.

By “South Lot” and the length of the ride and/or walk back, the lot was located someplace in Rhode Island. (I kid, I kid, and I digress).

Back to #SSAC26.

While the Silver & Bird discussion stands out, a panel held Saturday and moderated by Duke, USA Basketball and NBA great Shane Battier also stood out. Battier grilled Seattle Storm head coach Sonia Raman, active but injured NBA, 6’ 11”, 265 lbs. power forward Steven Adams (of the Houston Rockets by way of New Zealand), LA Clippers basketball advisor Monte McNair, and a very impressive Ariana Andonian, the GM of Philadelphia 76ers G-League team (Delaware Blue Coats) and the VP of Player Personnel for the Sixers (NBA level).

It was pointed out during the panel discussion that the two women were both children of immigrants and – add Steven Adams and you have a pretty amazing trifecta of basketball talent and knowledge.

Some of the discussion, which Adams contributed to while wearing a walking boot, revolved around the question of “just how much” can you throw at a player in terms of analytics. While Battier admitted to accepting binders full of information and studying it throughout his career, Adams was a little more reluctant but said he ‘“would always listen.”

What the NBA analytics did show was underlined by McNair, the general manager and president of basketball operations of the Sacramento Kings in 2020 and NBA Executive of the Year in 2023, who said “crashing the glass” was discovered as the key element to success. He also noted, there was always a give and take between hitting the offensive boards vs. transition defense.

Of course, McNair was sitting next to one of the great offensive rebounders in the NBA over the past dozen years.

(L to R): Monte McNair, Ariana Andonian, Steven Adams, Coach Sonia Raman, and moderator Shane Battier

The group framed where analytics falls in the basketball operations hierarchy today, which is the fact crunching data is amongst the most important functions for a team. The players want the information, but once a game starts, they need to see what is developing and either take a proactive approach to force the tempo or have a reactive counter to what the offense is doing. “Execution” was the key factor for Adams and he noted that no analytic print-out could determine how he would react to what a talented player was tossing his way.

That said, the game planning, the counters to the opponents’ tendencies and attempting to stop the opponents’ most effective offensive efforts was something the team needed to stay with, even if it wsn’t working over a short period of time at the start of a game.

Again, no ‘show-stopping’ legends on stage, but good, solid discussions with the wide-ranging panels, all coming at the discussion from different fields of employment at the highest level of the sport.

Special Note: A sincere thank you to Daryl Morey, Jessica Gelman and all of the Conference leaders, organizers, volunteers and a terrific staff at the Seaport Convention Center. It’s an incredibly well-run conference, probably the best sports conference in the world.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The PGA of America was stationed at the vaunted Hall of Game at the MIT Sloan Conference. The sport of golf has been crunching all kinds of numbers to help pro players and weekend hackers improve their scores. Also, the concepts of improvement using AI and wearables is vastly improving the game, joining ever-improving technology for clubs, shoes and golf balls.

One of the PGA of America’s short-term goals is to attach teaching pros to the emerging onslaught of indoor simulation shops, from the high end of Top Golf to the more social, event and fun-based Five Iron Golf.

HURLING with HURLEY: UConn men’s basketball coach Danny Hurley is $25,000 poorer today than he was yesterday. In Saturday’s season finale, a 68-62 loss to Marquette which cost his team a share of the Big East regular season title, Hurley approached game official John Gaffney and got his chest next to the official’s right shoulder while voicing his displeasure. Hurley said he never bumped into Gaffney, though every replay angle suggested otherwise. … Hurley denied it, saying, “You could screenshot whatever you want to screenshot. I don’t feel like I made any contact with John. I don’t believe I did.” … Well, every TV camera in the building showed a definite bump into the official (who threw a double technical at Hurley in reaction to the bump). The BIG EAST spoke quickly, snuffing-out any speculation of suspending Hurley for UConn’s first BIG EAST tournament game scheduled for this Thursday evening.

The BIG EAST statement reads, “UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has been fined $25,000 by the BIG EAST for unsportsmanlike conduct in the closing seconds of the March 7 game at Marquette. With one second left in the game, Hurley received two technical fouls for aggressively confronting a game official, was subsequently ejected from the game, and then failed to leave the court in a timely manner. Initial speculation on the game broadcast indicated possible contact between Hurley and the official; however, a review by the conference office of the officials’ game report and available game footage could not confirm physical contact. “We hold our coaches to high standards of sportsmanlike conduct during game competition, and inappropriate interactions with our officials will not be tolerated,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: This is now the third (and probably last) week to mention the Mika Zibanejad effect and the fact that in two minutes (3:26pm to 3:28pm on Saturday, during a New York Rangers’ power play against the New Jersey Devils, the name Zabanejad was mentioned 10 times over the short span of time. Ten times! … The guy is amazing.

USA, USA, USA: Adam Amin, the Fox Sports play-by-play man for the World Baseball Classic, made the unforgivable mistake of comparing the current roster for the 2026 USA Baseball team to that of the 1992 USA Basketball “Dream Team.” … Puh-leeze!

The ONLY team that can ever be compared to the Magic, Bird and Jordan Dream Team – the one and only Dream Team – is the 1976 Canada Cup ice hockey team which had 17 Hall of Famers on the roster.

Take a look:

Team Canada Goaltenders:

Rogie Vachon (Los Angeles Kings)

Gerry Cheevers (Boston Bruins)

Glenn Resch (New York Islanders)

Defensemen:

Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins/Chicago Black Hawks)

Denis Potvin (New York Islanders)

Larry Robinson (Montreal Canadiens)

Serge Savard (Montreal Canadiens)

Guy Lapointe (Montreal Canadiens)

Carol Vadnais (New York Rangers)

Jim Watson (Philadelphia Flyers)

Paul Shmyr (Cleveland Crusaders – WHA)

Forwards:

Phil Esposito (New York Rangers)

Bobby Clarke (Philadelphia Flyers)

Darryl Sittler (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Guy Lafleur (Montreal Canadiens)

Marcel Dionne (Los Angeles Kings)

Bobby Hull (Winnipeg Jets – WHA)

Gilbert Perreault (Buffalo Sabres)

Reggie Leach (Philadelphia Flyers)

Bill Barber (Philadelphia Flyers)

Steve Shutt (Montreal Canadiens)

Richard Martin (Buffalo Sabres)

Lanny McDonald (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Danny Gare (Buffalo Sabres)

Dan Maloney (Detroit Red Wings)

Peter Mahovlich (Montreal Canadiens)

Coaching Staff:

Head Coach: Scotty Bowman

Assistant Coaches: Don Cherry, Bobby Kromm, Al MacNeil

For the record, the 2026 World Baseball Classic USA Baseball team roster is:

Pitchers (RHP/LHP): Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Logan Webb, Mason Miller, Clayton Kershaw, Clay Holmes, David Bednar, Michael Wacha, Griffin Jax, Garrett Whitlock, Matthew Boyd, Nolan McLean.

Catchers: Cal Raleigh, Will Smith.

Infielders: Bryce Harper (1B), Bobby Witt Jr. (SS), Alex Bregman (3B), Brice Turang (2B), Gunnar Henderson, Paul Goldschmidt, Ernie Clement.

Outfielders: Aaron Judge, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Byron Buxton, Roman Anthony.

Designated Hitter: Kyle Schwarber.

That’s a great baseball team, but to equal the ‘92 Dream Team, USA Baseball would need to suit up Jackie Robinson, DiMaggio, Mays, Mantle, Aaron and Snyder for starters.