Oct. 21, 2009
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Two-time All-American Luke Harangody (Schererville, Ind.), the 2008 BIG EAST Player of the Year, has been tabbed the league’s 2009-10 preseason player of the year for the second consecutive year at the conference’s annual media day on Wednesday, Oct. 20 held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, N.Y. In addition, Harangody was named to the preseason all-conference first team.
Notre Dame was chosen eighth in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Irish finished with 132 points. Villanova was chosen to win the conference’s annual regular-season race as the Wildcats garnered 10 first-place votes and 218 points. West Virginia was picked second with five first-place votes and 215 points and was followed by Connecticut (185 points) as the Huskies garnered one first-place vote. Louisville was tabbed fourth with 179 points followed by Georgetown (161 points), Syracuse (152 points) and Cincinnati (135 points). Pittsburgh was selected to finish ninth with 119 points and was followed by Seton Hall (110 points), St. John’s (82 points), Marquette (78 points), Providence (52 points), USF (44 points), Rutgers (43 points) and DePaul (15 points).
Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati was selected as the league’s preseason rookie of the year.
Joining Harangody on the first team were: Deonta Vaughn (Cincinnati), Greg Monroe (Georgetown), Lazar Hayward (Marquette), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) and Da’Sean Butler (West Virginia).
The preseason BIG EAST second team featured Jerome Dyson (Connecticut), Kemba Walker (Connecticut), Samardo Samuels (Louisville), Jeremy Hazell (Seton Hall), Dominique James (USF) and Devin Ebanks (West Virginia).
Two players — Stanley Robinson (Connecticut) and Arinze Onuaku (Syracuse) — comprise the preseason honorable mention team.
The league’s 16 head coaches chose both the preseason poll and all-conference first team with coaches not permitted to vote for their teams or players.
Harangody became the first player in BIG EAST history in 2008-09 to lead the conference in scoring (25.2) and rebounding (12.8) in consecutive seasons, while also leading the Irish in both categories, 23.3 points and 11.8 rebounds, for the second straight year. Additionally, he was the only player nationally to rank in the top 10 in both scoring (8th) and rebounding (6th).
Harangody registered an Irish single-season best 25 double-doubles (15 in BIG EAST play) and ranks fourth all-time at Notre Dame with 50 career double-doubles. He scored in double figures in all but two games, netted 30-plus points on six occasions and registered 20-plus points in 25 contests. Harangody established a BIG EAST single-season rebounding record with 231 rebounds in 18 regular-season conference games.
A two-time first-team all-BIG EAST honoree, he earned a spot on Dick Vitale’s All-America squad and was a second team selection to the United States Basketball Writers (USBWA) All-America unit. He also was named a State Farm/NABC third team All-American.
Harangody is one of only four players in Notre Dame history with 1,800 career points and 900 rebounds, ranking eighth all-time with 1,823 points and standing fifth with 949 rebounds. In his three-year BIG EAST career, he has scored 1,031 points (19.9 ppg.) in 52 league contests. Only three other players in BIG EAST history — Ray Allen (Connecticut), Richard Hamilton (Connecticut) and Pat Garrity (Notre Dame) — have scored more than 1,000 points in three seasons.