Pac-12 Hotline: Picks for postseason awards and all-conference selections

The Pac-12 will reveal the final postseason award winners in conference history on Tuesday, but we see no reason to wait.

The Hotline’s selections are based largely on performance in conference play. The regular season ended Saturday and the final Pac-12 Tournament begins Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Coach of the Year

Washington State’s Kyle Smith. An easy call, although Cal’s Mark Madsen did first-rate work in his rookie season. The Cougars were picked 10th in the preseason media poll and finished second — the greatest upside surprise in the conference’s expansion era. For that, Smith stands as a contender for national honors and will be one of the hottest commodities on the market this spring.

Player of the Year

Arizona G Caleb Love. The transfer from North Carolina was the best player on the best team in a season that lacked superlative individual efforts by players on contending teams. Love averaged 20 points per game in league play and was superb in several of the Wildcats’ biggest wins.

Freshman of the Year

Washington State G Myles Rice. A surprise winner on so many levels, starting with his personal story. Rice missed the 2022-23 season while receiving treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, then returned to lead the Cougars to their surprising run through the conference.

Defensive Player of the Year

Arizona State G Frankie Collins. There was no obvious choice, no player as dominant defensively as UCLA’s Jaylen Wells was last year. But Collins was a disruptive force on a weekly basis and averaged 2.7 steals per game, third nationally among players from the power conferences.

All-conference picks

(Note: The Pac-12 will select 10 players for the first team and five for the second. We believe in the traditional approach with five players per team.)

First team

Arizona G Caleb Love

WSU G Myles Rice

Colorado G KJ Simpson

Oregon State G Jordan Pope

Washington F Keion Brooks

Second team

Cal G Jaylon Tyson

WSU F Isaac Jones

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Utah F Branden Carlson

Stanford F Maxime Reynaud

Arizona C Oumar Ballo

Third team

Oregon G Jermaine Couisnard

ASU G Frankie Collins

WSU F Jaylen Wells

Colorado F Tristan da Silva

Oregon C N’Faly Dante

All-defense

ASU G Frankie Collins

Arizona G Jaden Bradley

USC G Kobe Johnson

UCLA F Adem Bona

Oregon C N’Faly Dante

All-transfer

Arizona G Caleb Love (from North Carolina)

Cal G Jaylon Tyson (Texas Tech)

WSU F Jaylen Wells (Sonoma State)

Utah G Deivon Smith (Georgia Tech)

WSU F Issac Jones (Idaho)

All-freshman

WSU G Myles Rice

Oregon G Jackson Shelstad

UCLA G Sebastian Mack

USC G Isaiah Collier

Colorado F Cody Williams