Trio of Hoosiers given All-Big Ten Honors

Freshman center D.J. White was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year Tuesday, headlining a trio of Hoosiers honored by the conference.\nJunior guard Bracey Wright was named First Team Big Ten by the media and second team by the coaches, and freshman Robert Vaden joined White on the All-Freshmen team.\n"I'm happy and excited for them," said IU coach Mike Davis. "It's been a tough season for them, but they've all made great strides throughout the year and for them to be rewarded is special."\nIf any one Hoosier ran away with his award, it was White. White leads all Big Ten freshmen in points with 13.3 per game, field goal percentage by making more than 58 percent of his shots, and blocks -- averaging 2.1 swats per game.\nThe coaches and the media awarded White as the league's top freshman. White said he's grateful for the award, but there's a lot more he'd like to accomplish at IU.\n"I accomplished my goal at the beginning of the season," White said. "I set out to be the Big Ten Freshmen of the Year and maybe even the national freshman (of the year)" \nThe Big Ten honors weren't the only awards White racked up. The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native garnered freshman All-American distinctions by www.rivals.com Monday and www.collegeinsider.com Tuesday.\nWright was named second team by the coaches for the second straight year and joins Illinois junior and high school teammate Deron Williams on the media's first team. Wright leads the Big Ten with 18.5 points per game, leads the Hoosiers with 4.8 rebounds per game while ranking second on the squad in assists and steals.\nFormer IU and current Washington Wizards player Jared Jeffries was the last Hoosier to accomplish both White and Wright's feats. Jeffries was named top freshman in 2001 and earned first team, all-conference honors in 2002.\nIt's the first time Wright has been named to the Big Ten's top team in his prolific IU career.\nDavis said it's possible Wright's stat line and the Hoosiers record could've looked better if he'd not missed three games with injury.\n"I think if he wouldn't have gotten hurt and we could've won a couple of more games he could've been up for player of the year," Davis said. "We won 10 games, but if we would've won 12 -- that would've been special." \n"You would talk about him the way you'd talk about Dee Brown and those guys. So we're just two games away from putting him in that same class."\nThe award is an honor he strives for, Wright said.\n"It feels pretty good to be on the first team with the players we have in this conference right now," Wright said. "Our biggest thing right now is getting in the tournament. That's really where our focus is."\n-- Contact Staff Writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.