It's been a good day for the Runnin' Utes, as they had three players named on the All-Conference teams earlier today. Now they have some individual awards to go along with that, as Jakob Poeltl was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, and Brandon Taylor was named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Jakob really came on strong in the second half of the season, by averaging over 20 points per game over the last half of conference play. Early in the season, he may have been considered a favorite, but not THE favorite, as Dillon Brooks in particular was playing out his mind. Poeltl proved out to be the best player over the course of the entire season.
Many Utah fans (myself included) would argue that this should be Utah's second consecutive Player of the Year, with Delon Wright losing out to Joe Young of Oregon a year ago.
Below is the full press release for both Poeltl and Taylor:
SAN FRANCISCO - Utah sophomore forward Jakob Poeltl was named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year and senior guard Brandon Taylor was tabbed the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the conference announced on the Pac-12 Networks Sports Report Monday evening.
Poeltl, who was tabbed an All-Pac-12 First Team selection earlier today, becomes the first Utah player to earn Player of the Year since joining in the conference in 2011. He also becomes the first Ute player to be named a league’s Player of the Year honor since Luke Nevill was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year back in 2009.
“I am obviously honored,” said Poeltl. “I have always said that individual awards are not really what I am [playing] for and I am more about the team. I hope that our team is playing well, but being named the Pac-12 Player of the Year is a great honor.”
Poeltl led the conference with a .660 field goal shooting percentage, ranked second with 17.6 points per game and was third in the league with 9.1 rebounds per game. The Vienna, Austria native ranked second in both total field goals made (202) and total points (543), while also collecting the third-most double-doubles (14) in the league.
Taylor becomes the first player from Utah to earn Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete Player of the Year honors after boasting a cumulative 3.4 GPA throughout his four years on campus. The Los Angeles native was also named an All-Pac-12 selection earlier today, earning Honorable Mention accolades. Taylor ranked ninth in the conference with 3.9 assists per game, while his 120 total assists were eighth-most in the league. His 1.5 steals per game average ranked fourth-best in the Pac-12.
No. 2 seed Utah (24-7) will play No. 7 seed USC (20-11) or No. 10 seed UCLA (15-16) in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10. Tip-off is set for 6:15 p.m. PST at MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.