Caleb Love will go down in history as the final Pac-12 Player of the Year – at least until the Pac-12 props men’s basketball up again. And while he isn’t matching that honor in Arizona’s first year of the Big 12, he did recognized for another tremendous season. On Monday, Caleb Love was named to the All-Big 12 First Team. Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar also received honorable mentions.
The lone all-Big 12 selection for Caleb Love is fewest all-conference selections for Arizona since James Akinjo was the only First Team All-Pac-12 selection in 2021.
In Tommy Lloyd’s first three seasons in Tucson, Arizona produced two Player of the Year selections (Bennedict Mathurin – 2022, and Caleb Love – 2024), a Defensive Player of the Year (Christian Koloko – 2022), two Most Improved Player of the Year selections (Christian Koloko – 2022, and Oumar Ballo – 2023), and a Sixth Man of the Year (Pelle Larsson – 2022), as well as three All-Defensive Team honorees (Christian Koloko – 2022, Dalen Terry – 2022, Oumar Ballo – 2024).
The Wildcats did not have any All-Defensive, All-Freshman, or All-Newcomers selections in their inaugural year in the Big 12.
Houston, which took the regular season title, had four all-conference selections, including two on the First Team. Texas Tech also had two First Team picks, with three in total, and Iowa State had four selections, including one First Team.
Texas Tech’s JT Toppin is the Big 12 Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. Houston’s Joseph Tugler earned Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Cougars’ head coach Kelvin Sampson won Coach of the Year, and LJ Cryer took home Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Baylor’s VJ earned Freshman of the Year, Iowa State’s Curtis Jones is the Sixth Man of the Year, and BYU’s Richie Saunders got Most Improved player.