Gary Payton II The Pac-12 Defensive Player of Year

Oregon St. guard Gary Payton II has been named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. The conference coaches have voted their All-Conference teams and awards, and Payton II, the only Beaver honored, also was named to the All-Conference first team as well as the All-Defensive team.

Payton II joins his father Gary Payton (1987) and Seth Tarver (2010) as Beavers named the conference Defensive Player of the Year, though the award wasn't awarded from 1988 through 2007.

The Player of the Year is senior guard Joseph Young from Oregon, and Arizona forward Stanley Johnson was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.

Washington St sophomore forward Josh Hawkinson was named the Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year, and Oregon coach Dana Altman received the John R. Wooden Coach of the Year Award, after guiding the Ducks to the second place in the conference after initially being picked to finish 8th by the same coaches.

The first team is comprised of Young, Payton II, Ariziona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, T.J. McConnell, and Stanley Johnson, Washington St.'s  DaVonté Lacy, UCLA's Norman Powell, Stanford's Chasson Randle, California's Tyrone Wallace, and Utah's Delon Wright.

Unlike the women's coaches, who named only a first team, the men's coaches also announced a second team, which includes Colorado's Askia Booker, Oregon's Elgin Cook, UCLA's Kevon Looney, Utah's Brandon Taylor, and Washington's Nigel Williams-Goss.

Joining Payton on the All-Defensive team are Hollis-Jefferson, McConnell, Wright, and Oregon's Jordan Bell.

Joining Johnson on the All-Freshman team are Bell, Dillon Brooks, also from Oregon, Arizona St.'s Tra Holder, UCLA's Kevon Looney, USC's Jordan McLaughlin, and Utah's Jakob Poeltl.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com