Published: March 10, 2008 11:55 pm         

Big East honors WVU’s Alexander

MORGANTOWN — Joe Alexander admittedly was thrilled Monday to learn that he had made the 11-man All-Big East basketball first team for 2007-08.

“It’s awesome,” said the 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior forward from Mt. Airy, Md. He also was named the league’s Player of the Week for his performances in back-to-back victories over Pitt and St. John’s.

In leading the Mountaineers to a 22-9 record, including 11-7 in the conference and No. 5 tournament seeding, Alexander averaged 16.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He also had 73 assists, 46 shot-blocks and 24 steals.

Coach Bob Huggins, who has pushed his development, obviously was happy that his much-improved leader was honored.

“Joe’s really come on,” he said. “He has made so much progress just in his understanding how to play. He kind of had the best description of tunnel vision before he caught the ball at times and decided what he was going to do with the ball before he caught it.

“Now I think he’s doing a much better job catching the ball and reacting against the defense, coming off consecutive games with 32 points and then 29 Saturday against St. John’s. He certainly has become one of the better players in a great league.”

Asked whether he ever thought he would get to this point in his career, Alexander replied without hesitation: “Yeah. I’ve worked hard since I’ve been here, and I’ve always planned to get to this point. The coaching staff and my teammates certainly have helped me.

“The coaches genuinely care about us as people and players, and they work hard for us. They put in time with us after practice.”

Darris Nichols, senior point guard, thinks Alexander had the potential to lead this team under a new head coach. “Coming into the year, we knew he had to be one of the best players (in the Big East) for us to have a great season,” he said.

In all, 11 standouts were selected for the first team by the conference’s 16 head coaches. None could vote for his own players.

Besides Alexander, the All-Big East first team includes Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price, both of Connecticut; Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney, both of Notre Dame; Dante Vaughn of Cincinnati; Roy Hibbert of Georgetown; David Padgett of Louisville; Sam Young of Pittsburgh; Brian Laing of Seton Hall; and Kentrell of South Florida.

Second team:

Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut; Jonathan Wallace, Georgetown; Draelon Burns, DePaul; Terrence Williams, Louisville; Lazar Hayward, Dominic James and Jerel McNeal, all of Marquette; Donte’ Greene and Paul Harris, both of Syracuse; and Scottie Reynolds, Villanova,

All-Rookie team:

Mac Koshwal and Dar Tucker, both of DePaul; Austin Freeman, Georgetown; DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh; Cory Chandler, Rutgers; Justin Burrell, St. John’s; Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall; Dominque Jones, USF; Jonny Flynn and Donte’ Greene, both of Syracuse; and Corey Fisher, Villanova.