Illinois’ Brown, Weber Earn Big Ten Honors

Illinois guard Dee Brown was named Big Ten Conference player of the year Tuesday by the league’s coaches and media, and the media selected Illini Coach Bruce Weber as the conference’s coach of the year.

Brown also was named defensive player of the year by the coaches and joins fellow guards Luther Head and Deron Williams as first-team All-Big Ten selections.

Weber, who has led the Illini to a record of 29-1 overall and 15-1 in the conference this season, is the first Illinois coach to be named coach of the year since Lou Henson won it in 1993.

Brown averages 14 points and is the conference’s top three-point shooter.

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Hakim Warrick, the second-leading scorer and fourth-leading rebounder in the Big East this season, was selected the conference’s player of the year in a vote by the coaches.

Al Skinner, who led Boston College to a share of the regular-season title with Connecticut, was chosen the coach of the year.

Warrick leads the Orange with averages of 22.1 points and 7.6 rebounds.

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Siena fired Coach Rob Lanier after a season in which the Saints set a school record with 24 losses. Lanier was 58-70 in four seasons.