Ostrich, Smooge, Painter & Others Honored

Don't mess with the ostrich.
Despite their awkward appearance, ostriches can run 40 miles per hour and can kill attackers with the strength of their leg kicks. Ostriches are also extremely aggressive and when they knock down a foe, they are known to kill that animal in order to protect the rest of the herd.

The real All Big Ten Team and the rest of the conference honors were released this afternoon and the boys from West Lafayette cleaned up yet again. First off, Matt Painter was Coach of the Year according to media and coaches voting.



Robbie Hummel was on the first team for all-conference, Smooge was second team, Kramer was third team (media) and Grant was honorably mentioned by the coaches. Kramer was also Defensive Player of the Year and on the All-Defensive team while Hummel & Moore were both on the All-Frosh team.

Also noteworthy, the Wooden Award Finalist List came out, and The Ostrich was one of the 24 players on that list.

I think Purdue received all of the hardware simply because yes, they were good...But also, they were surprising to a ton of people, both in the media and within the game. They have set a high bar for themselves in coming seasons.

So how talented, and how disappointing is IU as a team?
-D.J. White was player of the year
-Eric Gordon was Freshman of the year
-Both were First-Team All-Conference; both are Finalists for the Wooden Award
-Armon Bassett & Jamarcus Ellis both were also recognized

-IU finished third in the conference
(Kelvin Sampson did not receive any votes for recognition)