March 9, 2004

All-Big Ten Release in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Two Northwestern men's basketball players were honored with All-Big Ten honors this season, while Wildcats head coach Bill Carmody was named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year by the media voters. The announcement of the All-Big Ten Teams, and the Big Ten's season honors, was made Tuesday morning by the conference office.

Senior guard Jitim Young (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) was named first-team All-Big Ten by both the conference coaches and the media. He is just the ninth player in NU history to receive first-team honors, and the first since Evan Eschmeyer, who was honored three such times from 1997-99. Last year, Young earned third-team All-Big Ten recognition from the coaches and honorable mention from the media.

Young did it all as captain of this year's Wildcats team. The senior led NU in several categories, chief among them scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounding (6.1) and steals (54). He finished fourth in the conference in scoring and was the top rebounding guard in the Big Ten once again this season. Despite his small stature, Young lived among the trees in the trenches and still managed to finish among the league leaders with a .543 field goal percentage.

Young was joined on the All-Big Ten Teams by sophomore forward Vedran Vukusic (Split, Croatia/Medical HS). Vukusic, who redshirted last season after missing most of his freshman year with continuous shoulder problems, bounced back in style in 2003-04. He finished second behind Young in both scoring (14.2) and rebounding (4.3), and also led the Wildcats' with 55 three-pointers. Vukusic was among the conference leaders in several categories.

This marks the second time in three years Northwestern has had two players earn All-Big Ten honors in the same season. In 2002, Tavaras Hardy was a third-team selection by the coaches, while Winston Blake earned honorable mention.

Finally, NU head coach Bill Carmody was honored by the media voters as the Big Ten Coach of the Year, the first time a Northwestern coach has received the honor (it was first bestowed in 1973). Carmody led a young squad -- Young is the only senior, starting with three sophomores and a freshman -- to an 8-8 Big Ten record, the best by a Northwestern team since 1968. The eight wins came against seven different teams, one shy of the school record (the 1944 team defeated eight different Big Ten opponents). In addition, the 'Cats also had their best finish in the conference standings since 1969, tying for fifth place with Michigan.

NU enters this weekend's Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis as the sixth seed, and will play Penn State in the first round Thursday afternoon.

THE 2003-04 ALL-BIG TEN BASKETBALL TEAMS

As selected by the Big Ten Coaches
(players in ALL CAPS have 2004-05 eligibility)

FIRST TEAM
PAUL DAVIS, Michigan State
DEVIN HARRIS, Wisconsin*
KRIS HUMPHRIES, Minnesota
DERON WILLIAMS, Illinois
Jitim Young, Northwestern

SECOND TEAM
DEE BROWN, Illinois
CHRIS HILL, Michigan State
Kenneth Lowe, Purdue
MIKE WILKINSON, Wisconsin
BRACEY WRIGHT, Indiana

THIRD TEAM
LESTER ABRAM, Michigan
JEFF HORNER, Iowa
PIERRE PIERCE, Iowa
Velimir Radinovic, Ohio State
Bernard Robinson, Jr., Michigan

HONORABLE MENTION
JAMES AUGUSTINE, Illinois
JAN JAGLA, Penn State
ROGER POWELL, Illinois
MARSHALL STRICKLAND, Indiana
DAVID TEAGUE, Purdue
KELVIN TORBERT, Michigan State
Vedran Vukusic, Northwestern

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
SHANNON BROWN, Michigan State
DION HARRIS, Michigan
KRIS HUMPHRIES, Minnesota
COURTNEY SIMS, Michigan
MARLON SMITH, Penn State

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
DEVIN HARRIS, Wisconsin

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
KRIS HUMPHRIES, Minnesota

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kenneth Lowe, Purdue

As selected by Big Ten media
(players in ALL CAPS have 2004-05 eligibility)
FIRST TEAM
PAUL DAVIS, Michigan State
DEVIN HARRIS, Wisconsin*
KRIS HUMPHRIES, Minnesota
DERON WILLIAMS, Illinois
Jitim Young, Northwestern

SECOND TEAM
DEE BROWN, Illinois
CHRIS HILL, Michigan State
Kenneth Lowe, Purdue
MIKE WILKINSON, Wisconsin
BRACEY WRIGHT, Indiana

THIRD TEAM
LESTER ABRAM, Michigan
JEFF HORNER, Iowa
PIERRE PIERCE, Iowa
Bernard Robinson, Jr., Michigan
KELVIN TORBERT, Michigan State

HONORABLE MENTION
JAMES AUGUSTINE, Illinois
A.J. Moye, Indiana
ROGER POWELL, Illinois
Velimir Radinovic, Ohio State
Vedran Vukusic, Northwestern

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
DEVIN HARRIS, Wisconsin

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
KRIS HUMPHRIES, Minnesota*

COACH OF THE YEAR
Bill Carmody, Northwestern

* unanimous selection