Notre Dame dominates Big East Conference major awards

An undefeated conference season has translated into Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Freshman of the Year honors for Big East regular season champion Notre Dame.

To virtually no one’s surprise, senior guard Skylar Diggins was named the conference’s Player of the Year, on the strength of an outstanding season (17.3 points per game, 5.9 assists in all games and 18.5 points per game in conference play), that will garner her All-American honors and a top spot in the WNBA draft. This is Diggins’ second straight player of the year honor.

Muffet McGraw garnered her second Coach of the Year honor; the first time the Irish went on to win the national championship. She emphasized in her acceptance speech that while honored, the award is a product of the hard work of her players, coaching staff and the administration.

Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd was recipient of the Freshman of the Year award, after earning the weekly honor four times this season and averaging over 11 points per game.

Anna Martin of DePaul was awarded the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Ironically, with the announcement today of the splitting of the conference, only Martin of DePaul will be in the “Big East” conference next season, assuming the Catholic Seven schools leaving the current Big East take the name.