St. Louis ? Andrew Bogut parleyed an international basketball background into an All-American story.
The 7-footer grew up in Australia with a passion for the game nurtured by his parents, both natives of Croatia. The desire to test himself against the best convinced Bogut to attend college in the United States, a stint at Utah that lasted two years and was capped Friday by his selection as The Associated Press player of the year.
Bruce Weber, who led Illinois to its winningest season ever and a berth in the Final Four, was an overwhelming choice as AP’s coach of the year.
Bogut received 31 votes for player of the year from the 72-member national media panel that selects the AP’s weekly Top 25. J.J. Redick of Duke was second with 15 votes, and Wayne Simien of Kansas was third with nine.
Bogut led Division I with 26 double-doubles in 35 games this season. He was second in rebounding at 12.2 per game and fourth in field-goal percentage at 62 percent. He averaged 20.4 points per game (15th in the nation) and 2.3 assists while playing 35 minutes. He was the leading vote-getter on the AP’s All-America first team.
The Utes finished 29-6, won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Kentucky.
Bogut announced earlier this week that he would forgo his final two seasons at Utah and apply for the NBA Draft. He’s expected to be one of the top picks in June and he knows the work has just begun.
The 20-year-old Bogut averaged 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds last summer in Athens for the Australian Olympic team. Just four years earlier he was cut from his state team in Victoria.
Weber’s selection was the result of Illinois most-accomplished season ever. The Illini (36-1), who play Louisville in the national semifinals Saturday, were ranked No. 1 the final 15 weeks of the season, and were unanimous selections six times.
Weber received 54 votes. Mike Krzyzewski of Duke was the runner-up with six, followed by Al Skinner of Boston College (5) and Lorenzo Romar of Washington (4).
