For the second time in his already-storied career, Luke Harangody has been tabbed the Big East's preseason player of the year.
The Notre Dame senior from Schererville joins Patrick Ewing as the only other player to receive the honor more than once. Ewing earned the distinction three times while at Georgetown.
Harangody, an Andrean grad, was honored based on voting by the 16 league head coaches at Big East media day in New York on Wednesday.
After a relatively unassuming freshman season, Harangody was the Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore, and he led the conference in scoring last year as a junior with 23.3 points per game. He also was second in the conference in rebounding, with 11.8 boards per game. However, Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair shared the Big East Player of the Year award after the season. Harangody finished third in the voting.
Thabeet and Blair decided to leave school early for the NBA draft. Harangody later decided to do the same.
However, the latter didn't hire an agent and after spending the spring working out for pro teams, the 6-foot-8 power forward made the decision to return for one more year in South Bend.
"The most important thing for me was my teammates," Harangody said at Notre Dame media day last week. "I will never be around another group of individuals like this ever again."
Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey had high praise for his program's standard bearer at media day, saying Harangody's NBA experience has improved him in time for his senior year.
"He's a better college player for putting his name in the (NBA) draft," Brey said. "He's a more confident player."
Harangody averaged 11-plus points for a 24-win NCAA tournament team his freshman season before becoming a big-time player in the Big East. Now that he's back on campus for one more run, he is firmly established as one of the best players in the nation, and he's probably one of the best in Notre Dame history.
Despite the return of Harangody, the Fighting Irish were picked to finish eighth in the Big East. Villanova, which made the Final Four last season, is the preseason favorite, followed by West Virginia, Connecticut and Louisville.
The Big East also signed a 5-year extension for the postseason tournament at Madison Square Garden, keeping it there through 2016.
MEN'S BASKETBALL