Jamie Weisner Pac-12 Player Of The Year

Earlier today, the Pac-12 All-Conference teams were announced, and both Jamie Weisner and Ruth Hamblin were on the first team, and Hamblin was also on the All-Defensive team. For some reason, the individual awards were delayed until this evening, but the wait was worth it for Beaver Nation.

Weisner is this year's Pac-12 Player of the Year, the first Beaver named as the conference's best player in 15 years, since Felicia Ragland in 2001. Tanja Kostic also claimed the honor, in both 1995 & 1996.

And its especially impressive considering the strength of the field, most notably Washington's Kelsey Plum and Oregon's Jillian Alleyne, who had impressive individual numbers on a national and conference historic level. No one was a more complete player than Weisner, though, who could score in the paint, from mid-range, and 3 point range, rebound, dish out assists, and defend, and did each variably as the situation dictated the need, leading Oregon State to the #1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, and their second consecutive regular season conference championship.

The "Canadian Hammer" was a different matter. Hamblin was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, and there was no doubt. Hamblin, a mechanical engineering major who is also the Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year, is one of only 2 players in Pac-10/12 history to block at least 100 shots in 2 different seasons, and if she gets 1 block in the tournament this weekend, will reach triple digits in blocks for the third year in a row.

The other season awards go to California's Kristine Anigwe, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, after she was named the conference Freshman of the Week a record 8 times, and the first Bear freshman to receive the award in a decade, and Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne, who was named the John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the second time, after guiding the Sun Devils to a tie with Oregon State in the conference standings, and the 2-seed in Seattle. Thorne was also the recipient in 2001.

All of the awards were by a vote of the conference's 12 head coaches.

3/2 UPDATE

When the media voted on the all-conference players and individual awards, Weisner and Alleyne were named the co-Players of the Year. The media did agree with the coaches on Hamblin as the Defensive Player of the Year, Anigwe as the Freshman of the Year, and Turner-Thorne as the Coach of the Year.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com