Ohio State's Foster earns defensive honor
The Buckeye standout headlines the league's first defensive team.
PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) -- Ohio State center Terence Dials of Boardman was named Big Ten player of the year Tuesday by the league's coaches and the media.
Dials, who led the ninth-ranked Buckeyes to their first outright Big Ten title in 14 years, was joined on the first team in the coaches' poll by Illinois guard Dee Brown -- last season's Big Ten player of the year -- Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker, Iowa forward Greg Brunner and Illinois center James Augustine.
On the media's first team, Dials was joined by Brown, Brunner, Tucker and Michigan guard Daniel Horton.
Iowa center Erek Hansen, who averaged 2.38 blocks per game and led the Big Ten in blocked shots for the second time in his four-year career, was named defensive player of the year by the coaches.
Top stoppers
Hansen was joined on the league's first All-Big Ten defensive team by Illinois' Brian Randle, Michigan State's Shannon Brown, Northwestern's Mohamed Hachad and Ohio State's JeKel Foster.
The coaches also named Penn State forward Jamelle Cornley freshman of the year. He was joined on the Big Ten all-freshman team by Illinois' Jamar Smith, Northwestern's Craig Moore, Purdue's Chris Lutz and Joe Krabbenhoft of Wisconsin.
Iowa forward Doug Thomas was named the conference's first sixth man of the year.
Dials ranked third in field goal percentage in Big Ten play, hitting .559 percent of his shots. He ranked eighth in scoring in Big Ten play with 16.3 points a game and fifth in rebounds with 8.4 a game. He blocked 1.0 shots a game, ranking him third in league play.
Dials is the first Ohio State player to win the award since Scoonie Penn was named player of the year by the media in 1999.
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