Arizona basketball: Sean Miller named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Lauri Markkanen makes all-conference team

The Pac-12 released their yearly conference awards on Monday afternoon, and Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller was named the John R. Wooden Coach of the Year.

This is the third time Miller has won the award, joining Lute Olson (seven), Mike Montgomery (four), Dana Altman (three), George Raveling (three), and Lorenzo Romar (three) as the other coaches that have accomplished that feat.

In 2017, Miller became the 21st coach in league history to reach 100 conference wins, and now holds the third-highest winning percentage among those with 100 wins, trailing only Wooden and Olson.

This was also the fourth time under Miller that Arizona has taken at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title, and is the 15th overall for the program.

In addition, Arizona had several players make all-conference teams. Lauri Markkanen is the only Wildcat named first-team All-Pac-12. Kadeem Allen and Allonzo Trier were each named second team all-conference.

In 12 games played, Trier is now Arizona’s leading scorer, averaging 16.4 points per game since returning from a PED suspension that was appealed. Markkanen has averaged 15.1 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds while starting all 31 of the team’s contests this year. The Finn also has the best free throw and three-point percentages on the Wildcats.

The all-freshman team includes Markkanen of course, but the second name from Tucson may surprise some people. Rawle Alkins gets the nod over Kobi Simmons.

Alkins is averaging 11 points and 5.4 rebounds compared to Simmons’ numbers of 10 and 1.8. There’s also just a ten assist differential between the two players (Simmons - 73, Alkins -63).

Allen picked up a second honor, getting named to the conference’s all-defensive team.

He led Arizona with 44 steals, and trails only Keanu Pinder in blocked shots (19 to 18). The senior also has 103 defensive rebounds this season, which is the fourth-highest mark on the team.

Arizona is back in action on Thursday when they take on the winner of Colorado and Washington State at 6 PM PT in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals. The contest from Las Vegas will be shown on Pac-12 Network.