Maric named All-Big 12 First Team

The postseason honors continued to roll in throughout the day as Nebraska senior center Aleks Maric was named to the All-Big 12 team by several media services and the league's coaches.

Maric, who was named to the All-Big 12 second team by the conference coaches early Monday morning, was selected to the Associated Press All-Big 12 first team on Monday afternoon. He was also selected to the All-Big 12 second team by Rivals.com.

Maric is the first Husker to earn first-team all-conference accolades since Venson Hamilton was a first-team selection by the coaches and media, and was the league's player of the year in 1999. During the Big 12 era, only Hamilton and Tyronn Lue (1998) were selected to the coach's first team.

Only the sixth player in the Big 12 Conference to post 1,500 career points and 900 rebounds since the formation of the league, Maric is just 25 rebounds short of becoming only the second Husker ever to reach the 1,000-rebound plateau.

After being held scoreless at Kansas on Jan. 26, Maric has posted 11 double-doubles in the past 12 games and has raced to eighth in the NU career scoring chart with 1,576 points, one point behind Lue for seventh place.

Along with Maric, a pair of Nebraska newcomers earned honors Monday from the Associated Press. Junior guards Steve Harley and Ade Dagunduro were each named to the league's all-newcomer team in a vote of sportswriters who regularly cover the Big 12 Conference.

Harley, a two-time junior college All-American at South Plains (Texas) CC, is second on the team in scoring this season at 9.2 points per contest and is one of four Huskers with at least 40 assists and 30 steals on the year. After a slow start to non-conference play, Harley picked up the pace, scoring in double figures 10 times in 16 league games after posting at least 10 points twice in the first 13 games of the year. Harley was second on the squad in scoring during league play, averaging 11.2 points per game while hitting 45.6 percent from the floor, including 48 percent from 3-point range.

Dagunduro is fourth on the team in scoring (8.3 ppg) and third in rebounding (3.7 rpg) while also posting 47 assists, 27 steals and eight blocked shots. He has scored in double figures 12 times this season, including posting 15 points and seven rebounds in an upset of then-No. 16 Oregon in Omaha.

Associated Press All-Big 12 Teams

First Team

Michael Beasley, Kansas State

D.J. Augustin, Texas

Aleks Maric, Nebraska

Curtis Jerrells, Baylor

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma

Second Team

Brandon Rush, Kansas

Darrell Arthur, Kansas

Mario Chalmers, Kansas

Byron Eaton, Oklahoma State

A.J. Abrams, Texas

Associated Press Specialty Teams

All-Freshman

James Anderson, Oklahoma State

Michael Beasley, Kansas State

LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma

Bill Walker, Kansas State

All-Newcomer

DeMarre Carroll, Missouri

Ade Dagunduro, Nebraska

Andre Gilbert, Kansas State

Steve Harley, Nebraska

Bryan Petersen, Iowa State

All-Defense

Conner Atchley, Texas

Mario Chalmers, Kansas

Marcus Dove, Oklahoma State

Dominique Kirk, Texas A&M

Russell Robinson, Kansas

All-Improved

Conner Atchley, Texas

Darnell Jackson, Kansas

Longar Longar, Oklahoma

Leo Lyons, Missouri

Alan Voskuil, Texas Tech

All-Reserve

Sherron Collins, Kansas

Bryan Davis, Texas A&M

LaceDarius Dunn, Baylor

Sasha Kaun, Kansas

Obe Muonelo, Oklahoma State

All-Underrated

Tony Crocker, Oklahoma

Marcus Hall, Colorado

Justin Mason, Texas

Kevin Rogers, Baylor

Juri Hubalek, Iowa State