West Coast Conference announces official end-of-season awards

The West Coast Conference released its all-conference teams and individual awards today, which are voted on by the league's 10 coaches. The league's big three of Saint Mary's, Gonzaga and BYU swept the individual honors, though that's not a shock.

Kyle Collinsworth (15.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game) earned WCC Player of the Year honors. He grabbed headlines over the course of the season as he set, and then extended, the NCAA career triple double record (11). Five of those came this season. The six-foot-six senior point guard led the WCC in both assists and steals while ranking third in rebounds and 12th in points. He's also BYU's all-time leader in assists (660) and rebounds (1,001).

Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett took home WCC Coach of the Year honors after leading his Gaels to a 24-4 (15-3) record, a share of the regular season title and the top seed in the conference tournament. He didn't just win the award for his first place finish though. He did so because nobody saw this coming. Bennett and his staff had to replace all five starters from last season and were pegged fourth in the preseason coaches' poll.

Defensive Player of the Year honors went to Gonzaga's Eric McClellan. His former teammate, Gary Bell Jr., took home the honors last season. McClellan is the top perimeter defender on the nation's best perimeter defense. Gonzaga holds opponents to 28.5% from three point range. The senior guard's presence has been invaluable for the Zags who trot out a relatively young and inexperienced backcourt.

Saint Mary's junior point guard Joe Rahon earned WCC Newcomer of the Year honors. In conference play Rahon ranks second in percentage of minutes played, tenth in assist rate, 13th in steal rate and commits the fourth fewest fouls among WCC student athletes.

Here's the full All-WCC First Team.

Our Mid-Major Madness preseason All-WCC team included eight of those named above while the official preseason all-WCC team named six of the ten.

Jared Brownridge is making his second all-WCC appearance after taking home Newcomer of the Year honors as a freshman. Stacy Davis is making his third all-WCC appearance after taking home Newcomer of the Year honors as a freshman as well. The Kyles, Collinsworth and Wiltjer, are making their second appearance on the all-WCC team. Wiltjer was named Newcomer of the Year last season. Alec Wintering and Domantas Sabonis were both named all-WCC second team last season.

Here's the full All-WCC Second Team.

Here's the All-WCC Freshman Team.

And finally, the All-WCC Honorable Mentions: Brandon Brown, Loyola Marymount; Alec Kobre, Pacific; Jett Raines, Pepperdine and T.J. Wallace, Pacific.