Michigan's Burke, Miami's Larranaga win AP basketball awards
Michigan sophomore point guard Trey Burke, who led the Wolverines to this weekend's Final Four, was selected as men's College Basketball Player of the Year by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Jim Larranaga, who guided Miami to the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament championships, was selected as The AP's men's Coach of the Year.
The awards were announced as part of the festivities leading up to the Final Four in Atlanta on Saturday.
Michigan coach John Beilein told MLive.com that Burke has been a steadying force for the Wolverines this season.
"Come on, the whole year he has been just as calm and cool as if he was a fifth-year redshirt senior guard. So you look at that," Beilein said. "He didn't come in as a freshman, sophomore, he had all these veterans around him, he just has to fill in the pieces, much like he had to do this year."
Burke, 6-1, already has been honored as the Big Ten Player of the Year and Michigan's fifth consensus first-team All-American. He became the first Wolverines player to win the AP awards since Cazzie Russell in 1966. He also is a candidate for the Wooden Award for the national player of the year.
He is averaging 18.8 points and 6.8 assists per game this season.
Larranaga, 63, had 29 votes, beating out St. Louis' Jim Crews (19) and Gonzaga's Mark Few (11) for the coaching award. He led the Hurricanes to a 29-7 record and a ranking as high as No. 2 in the weekly AP Poll.
