Kansas sweeps AP Big 12 awards after winning title
For only the second time while winning 13 consecutive Big 12 titles, the Kansas Jayhawks have both The Associated Press conference player and coach of the year in the same season.
Kansas senior guard Frank Mason III, the league's leading scorer at 20.5 points a game, was the unanimous pick as the league's top player in the AP All-Big 12 voting revealed Monday. Bill Self is the coach of the year for the third consecutive season and sixth time in 12 years.
With guard Josh Jackson voted the league's top newcomer, the Jayhawks earned a clean sweep of the individual awards. Jackson, the league's top-scoring freshman at 16.4 points a game, was also a first-team pick.
Baylor junior Johnathan Motley joined Mason as the only unanimous picks for AP All-Big 12 on the 18 ballots cast by a panel of journalists who regularly cover the Big 12 in the league's five states. Joining Motley and the Kansas duo on the first team were Iowa State senior Monte Morris and Oklahoma State sophomore Jawun Evans.
Self was also the top coach in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2016, but the only other of those years when the Jayhawks also had the top player was Marcus Morris in 2011.
The Kansas coach got 12 votes, while Brad Underwood got four in his first season at Oklahoma State, and Baylor's Scott Drew got the remaining two after the Bears reached No. 1 this season for the first time in school history.
The 2017 AP All-Big 12 team, with players listed with school, classification, height, weight, class and hometown ("u-" denotes unanimous selections):
FIRST TEAM
u-Frank Mason III, Kansas, Sr., 5-11, 190, Petersburg, Virginia.
u-Johnathan Motley, Baylor, Jr., 6-10, 230, Houston.
Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State, So., 6-1, 185, Dallas.
Josh Jackson, Kansas, Fr., 6-8, 207, Detroit.
Monte Morris, Iowa State, Sr., 6-3, 175, Flint, Michigan.
SECOND TEAM
Jarrett Allen, Texas, Fr., 6-11, 235, Round Rock, Texas.
Deonte Burton, Iowa State, Sr., 6-4, 250, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Jeffrey Carroll, Oklahoma State, Jr., 6-6, 215, Rowlett, Texas.
Jevon Carter, West Virginia, Jr., 6-2, 200, Maywood, Illinois.
Devonte' Graham, Kansas, Jr., 6-2, 185, Raleigh, North Carolina.
HONORABLE MENTION
Nathan Adrian, West Virginia; Vladimir Brodziansky, TCU; Keenan Evans, Texas Tech; Phil Forte III, Oklahoma State; Wesley Iwundu, Kansas State; Jo Lual-Acuil Jr., Baylor; Manu Lecomte, Baylor; Landen Lucas, Kansas; Naz Mitrou-Long, Iowa State; Zach Smith, Texas Tech.
