AP makes Texas duo unanimous All-Big 12

~ Tucker, Aldridge lead the first-team selections.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- P.J. Tucker and LaMarcus Aldridge, who anchored the conference's highest-ranked team while leading Texas to a share of the regular-season title, are both unanimous selections to The Associated Press All-Big 12 basketball team for 2005-06.

Joining them on the first team are Texas Tech's Jarrius Jackson, Colorado's Richard Roby and Curtis Stinson, the hard-nosed, do-everything guard for Iowa State.

The team was selected by a panel of 24 media representatives who cover the Big 12 on a regular basis. It vividly reflects the competitive character of a season when the league lacked a dominant team and 33 conference games -- more than one-third -- were decided by no more than three points.

Ten players got at least one first-team vote. Seven received support for first, second and third-team.

Kansas, which was a co-champion of the Big 12 with Texas, was not represented on the first team -- the first time that has happened to a Big 12 champion.

Kansas' Brandon Rush, the Big 12's top-scoring freshman who helped lead the well-balanced Jayhawks to a tie with Texas at 13-3, was the No. 1 vote-getter on the second team.

Kansas coach Bill Self said he was not surprised.

"This happens when you have great balance on a team. It's difficult for guys to get individual recognition," he said.

Rush received seven votes for the first team, 10 for second and seven for the third. No. 17 Kansas and No. 8 Texas were the only teams to place four players among the top 23.

Tucker, 6-5, Stinson, 6-3, and Jackson, 6-1, are juniors. Aldridge, 6-10, and Roby, 6-6, are sophomores.

Taj Gray and Terrell Everett of No. 22 Oklahoma were both named to the second team and are the only seniors among the top 15.

Rounding out the second team are Kansas State's Cartier Martin and Acie Law, a pivotal figure in the dramatic rise of Texas A&M to the Big 12's upper echelon.

Comprising the third team are A&M's Joseph Jones, Mario Chalmers of Kansas, Will Blalock of Iowa State, Daniel Gibson of Texas and Thomas Gardner of Missouri.

Buckeyes' Dials selected Big Ten player of the year

Ohio State center Terence Dials was named Big Ten player of the year Tuesday by the league's coaches and the media. His coach, Thad Matta was named the conference's coach of the year.

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.

Hansen was joined on the league's first-ever 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.