ST. LOUIS -- A late-season, three-game swoon notwithstanding, Saint Louis University was the class of the Atlantic 10 Conference this season, winning its second consecutive regular-season league championship. So it makes sense that there were awards aplenty for the Billikens on Tuesday.
The most decorated Billiken, of course, was senior guard Jordair Jett. A four-time recipient of the league's Player of the Week award, Jett was named the A-10 Player of the Year, making him the first Billiken to be named a league's top dog since 1981, when David Burns earned the Metro Conference's top honor.
Jett also was named to the all-conference first team and the league's all-defensive team. Awards were based on a vote of A-10 coaches.
Jett has been the Billikens' go-to guy with the game on the line. He scored a career-high 31 points against Rhode Island in the A-10 opener, icing the game with a pair of free throws with 7 seconds left. He had the game-winning layup against La Salle, scoring 19 points in the second half. He forced overtime against George Mason with a last-second free throw, and SLU went on to win. And when the Billikens clinched outright possession of the A-10 title at UMass on Sunday afternoon, there was Jett driving for the game-winning layup with 3 seconds left.
Jett is averaging 13.8 points with a team-high 4.7 assists per game.
Jett had plenty of help as SLU has gone 26-5 entering the A-10 tournament this week in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Joining Jett on the A-10 first team is senior forward Dwayne Evans, who is leading SLU in scoring (14-point average) and rebounding (6.4). Evans also was first-team all-conference a year ago, making him the first Billiken to achieve that feat since Erwin Claggett in the Great Midwest Conference.
Evans and senior forward Jake Barnett were named to the league's all-academic team (Evans for the second time).
Finally, coach Jim Crews was named the league's Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. He is a finalist for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year Award.
