Michigan Wolverines guard Trey Burke (3) moves the ball against Penn State Nittany Lions forward Ross Travis (43) in the first half at Crisler Center. (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)
(DETROIT FREE PRESS) - Michigan and Michigan State may have fallen just short of the Big Ten title, but they received some recognition Monday.
U-M guard Trey Burke won the Big Ten's player of the year award - Michigan's first recipient since Glen Rice in 1989.
"That means a lot to me being the first player since Glen Rice," he said on the Big Ten Network awards show. "That shows how prestigious this award is."
Michigan State's Gary Harris was named the freshman of the year - MSU's first ever - in balloting by 39 conference media members and the 12 coaches.
Burke also led the first-team selections, along with teammate Tim Hardaway Jr., Indiana's Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, plus Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas on the coaches' first team. The media had Ohio State's Aaron Craft instead of Hardaway.
Hardaway and Burke are the first U-M teammates to be first-team selections since Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose in 1994.
Burke and Zeller were each named the Big Ten player of the week three times, but Oladipo was considered the primary player of the year competition
. Burke and Oladipo were the only players who were unanimous selections on both the coaches and media first teams.
"I thought about it a lot, I tried not to let it affect my play, I tried to just focus on our games," Burke said. "Victor is a really good player, and I think it could have gone either way."
Burke's numbers were his biggest asset as he led the conference in scoring during the 18-game season (20.2 points per game), led in assists (6.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2-to-1), tied for second in steals (2.0) and third in three-point shooting (40.4%).
His most impressive stat may be his consistency as he was the only conference player to score at least 15 points in every Big Ten game this season.
"This is a huge honor for Michigan basketball, for the players individually and their teammates because they are a big part of this as well," U-M coach John Beilein said in a statement. "We can't say enough about Trey (Burke) and what he has meant for this program, what he has meant to the Big Ten and really what he has meant to the national profile of the Big Ten. He's a terrific competitor and a great teammate, and it is a great pleasure to coach him every day.
Harris stood out among the freshmen, leading all players during conference play, hitting 47.2% of his three-pointers, while scoring 13.7 points per game.
"I was happy I got the call from coach (Tom) Izzo; he told me the news and I was thrilled," Harris said on the BTN show, adding he helped play a leadership role. "We said at the beginning of the season we were all going to hold each other accountable, so me being a freshman I can say something to a senior ... and they're going to respect my opinion."
Wisconsin's Bo Ryan was named coach of the year, Oladipo was named defensive player of the year and Indiana's Will Sheehey was the sixth man of the year.
Three Spartans - Harris, Adreian Payne and Keith Appling - were named to the coaches' second team.
U-M's Glenn Robinson III joined Harris on the all-freshman team, Michigan's third straight season with an all-freshman selection, following Hardaway (2011) and Burke (2012). U-M's Jordan Morgan was on the all-defensive team.
Payne and Hardaway were their team's sportsmanship award winner.
Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.