IRVINE, Calif. » The Big West’s respect was apparent for two of Hawaii’s "Big Three."
The third? Not so much.
UH junior forward Christian Standhardinger was named to the All-Big West first team in the league’s postseason basketball awards announced Monday, while forward Isaac Fotu became just the second UH player to receive conference freshman of the year honors.
But senior center Vander Joaquim, a preseason all-league pick and top-five player last season in the WAC, was not selected for the first or second teams, and was tabbed only as an honorable mention.
Voting was conducted by the league’s 10 coaches. They were not allowed to vote for their own players.
"Yeah, I was hoping, obviously, that he’d get more recognition," said UH coach Gib Arnold, who was pleased with honors given to his other two big men. "But the voting’s done by the coaches. And I think you could tell that Vander’s extremely respected by the games. Every single time he catches the ball, they double-team him. So they respect him enough to double-team him, but maybe not enough to vote for him. So I find that a little bit ironic."
Joaquim, who averaged 14.1 points with 8.4 rebounds per game, will have his first chance to prove his doubters wrong on Thursday. Fifth-seeded UH (17-13, 10-8) and fourth-seeded UC Irvine (18-14, 11-7) meet in the Big West tournament first round at approximately 5:30 p.m.
UH flies to Los Angeles after getting in its final practice at home today.
Dan Monson of regular-season champion Long Beach State earned Big West Coach of the Year for the third year running. His senior swingman, James Ennis, was the Player of the Year.
Standhardinger, who averages 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds, was joined on the first team by Ennis, LBSU point guard Mike Caffey, UC Davis guard Corey Hawkins, Cal Poly wing Chris Eversley and UC Santa Barbara center Alan Williams.
"I want to sit down after the season and be happy about all that stuff, but right now I just want to focus since the season is going on and I hope it will go on for a long time," Standhardinger said.
Fotu was Co-Freshman of the Year along with Irvine’s Alex Young. He averaged 9.9 points with 6.3 rebounds and led the league in field-goal percentage (.635).
Dominic Waters (2005-06) is the only other UH frosh to take home the honor.
"I just came in playing my game and I didn’t have this much expectations; I just played my game and I’ll continue doing what I’m doing," Fotu said. "I had fun, first year of college basketball."
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Star-Advertiser reporter Jason Kaneshiro contributed to this story.
