Jalen Pickett earns consensus first-team All-Big Ten
With the regular season in the rearview mirror and the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament set to get underway this week in Chicago, the Big Ten unveiled its postseason honors for the 2022-23 men’s college basketball season. Not surprisingly, Penn State’s best player landed on the first-team all-conference roster,
Jalen Pickett, Penn State’s best hope for an All-American was named to the first-team Al-Big Ten, although he was not a unanimous selection from the Big Ten coaches. The media voters, however, corrected this by naming Pickett one of four unanimous selections for first-team All-Big Ten. Which coaches didn’t vote Pickett to the first team is unknown.
Pickett averaged 18.0 points per game with 7.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game during the regular season in leading Penn State to a 19-12 record. Pickett has garnered some recognition as a potential all-American player from national media.
The Big Ten coaches unanimously voted for Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis. In addition to Pickett, the Big Ten coaches included Terrence Shannon Jr. of Illinois and Kris Murray of Iowa on the first team.
Penn State’s Andrew Funk and Seth Lundy received honorable mentions from the Big Ten coaches.
The media voters had a different look for the first team All-Big Ten roster but were unanimous in their selections of Pickett, Edey, Jackson-Davis, and Murray. The media voters also included Boo Buie of Northwestern and Hunter Dickinson of Michigan on the first team (the coaches had Dickinson on the second team but left Buie off the entire roster despite going three teams deep and including a list of honorable mentions.
Funk and Lundy were each honorable mentions from the media voters as well.
Camren Wynter, who stepped up big in Penn State’s last-second victory over Maryland to close out the regular season, was named as a 2022-23 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Pickett, Funk, Lundy, Wynter and the rest of the Nittany Lions will open their Big Ten tournament run on Thursday evening with a matchup against Illinois. Penn State went 2-0 against the Illini during the regular season, and one more could help keep the Nittany Lions in the NCAA Tournament picture with Selection Sunday looming.
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