PRINCETON, N.J. -- Familiar names peppered this year's postseason awards in Ivy League men's basketball, paced by a pair of repeat award winners.
Yale senior forward Justin Sears repeated as Player of the Year and a unanimous selection on the All-Ivy first team and James Jones received Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row, this time as a unanimous selection.
The League's postseason awards, as voted on by the eight head coaches, also featured Dartmouth freshman forward Evan Boudreaux named Rookie of the Year and second-team All-Ivy and Harvard senior guard/forward Agunwa Okolie named Defensive Player of the Year and honorable mention All-Ivy.
Sears (Plainfield, N.J.) posted another stellar season as the center of attention for the Bulldogs, averaging 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He enters the postseason ranked third in school history in points (1,670) and fourth in rebounds (803). Sears is the only player in school history with at least 1,600 career points and 700 career rebounds.
Sears becomes the sixth player in League history to be selected Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, joining Princeton's Craig Robinson (1981-82 and 1982-83) and Kit Mueller in (1989-90 and 1990-91) and Penn's Jerome Allen (1992-93 and 1993-94), Ugonna Onyekwe (2001-02 and 2002-03) and Ibrahim Jaaber (2005-06 and 2006-07).
Jones led Yale to back-to-back Ivy League titles and his third overall during his 17 seasons roaming the sidelines in New Haven. The current dean of the Ivy coaches, Jones is the winningest coach in school history, who ranks third in conference history with 253 overall wins at an Ivy school and tied for third with former Bulldog head coach Joe Vancisin with 141 victories in conference games.
Boudreaux (Lake Forest, Ill.) was an offensive force for Dartmouth from the very beginning, tallying 25 points in the season opener at Seton Hall. He closed his freshman campaign ranked second in the League in scoring (17.7 points per game) and third in rebounding (9.4 rebounds per game). Boudreaux chipped in 20 points or more 10 times and tied the conference record with eight Rookie of the Week honors. He is is the second-straight Big Green player to be named Rookie of the Year following Miles Wright winning the award a year ago.
Okolie (Ajax, Ontario, Canada) kept the League's Defensive Player of the Year award in Cambridge for a second-straight year after being widely regarded as one of the top defensive players in the country. He was called upon night after night to defend multiple positions, most times that position being the opposition's best perimeter player. Okolie improved his all-around game this season averaging career-highs across the board with 10.3 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game, and 2.0 assists per game. He was even better in eague play, turning in 13.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Joining Sears as the other familiar name as a unanimous pick on the All-Ivy first team was Columbia senior guard Maodo Lo. Starting all 31 regular-season games for the Lions, Lo scored 16.7 points per game, and raised his scoring average in League play to 17.3, good for third in the conference. Columbia's all-time leader in three-pointers sits fifth in League history with 264 treys. His 1,682 career points rank third in school history.
The All-Ivy first team featured a trio of Bulldogs with sophomore guard Makai Mason and senior forward Brandon Sherrod accompanying Sears.
Mason (Greenfield, Mass.) steadied Yale offensive attack all season from his point guard position. He tied for third in assists per game (3.7) and poured in 15.8 points per game, tied for fifth in the League, to co-lead the team with Sears.
Sherrod (Bridgeport, Conn.) was a sure fire hit in his return to the hardwood averaging 12.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He set a new NCAA single-season record by making 30 consecutive field goals, passing the mark of 26 shared by Eastern Michigan's James Thompson, who did it earlier this season, and Bowling Green's Torian Oglesby, who did it in 2012.
Also receiving a first-team All-Ivy nod was Princeton junior forward Henry Caruso. Caruso (San Mateo, Calif.) led the Tigers in scoring at 15.3 points per game, posting 427 points this season to more than double his scoring total over his first two seasons at Princeton. He was a .527 (148-281) shooter from the field and .468 (37-79) from beyond the arc while also leading the team in rebounding at 6.3 per game.
Senior forward Cedric Kuakumensah (Worcester, Mass.), the League's all-time blocks leader, highlighted the second-team All-Ivy list. This marked a second-straight, second-team honor for the two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Yale led with the most All-Ivy picks with four followed by Princeton and Columbia with three each.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Justin Sears, Yale (Sr., F - Plainfield, N.J.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Evan Boudreaux, Dartmouth (Fr., F - Lake Forest, Ill.)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Agunwa Okolie, Harvard (Sr., G/F - Ajax, Ontario, Canada)
COACH OF THE YEAR
*James Jones, Yale
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
*Maodo Lo, Columbia (Sr., G - Berlin)
Henry Caruso, Princeton (Jr., F - San Mateo, Calif.)
Makai Mason, Yale (So., G - Greenfield, Mass.)
*Justin Sears, Yale (Sr., F - Plainfield, N.J.)
Brandon Sherrod, Yale (Sr., F - Bridgeport, Conn.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY^
Cedric Kuakumensah, Brown (Sr., F - Worcester, Mass.)
Grant Mullins, Columbia (Sr., G - Burlington, Ontario, Canada)
Matt Morgan, Cornell (Fr., G - Concord, N.C.)
Evan Boudreaux, Dartmouth (Fr., F - Lake Forest, Ill.)
Zena Edosomwan, Harvard (Jr., F/C - Los Angeles)
Darien Nelson-Henry, Penn (Sr., C - Kirkland, Wash.)
Spencer Weisz, Princeton (Jr., F - Florham Park, N.J.)
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Alex Rosenberg, Columbia (Sr., F - Short Hills, N.J.)
Agunwa Okolie, Harvard (Sr., G/F - Ajax, Ontario, Canada)
Steven Cook, Princeton (Jr., F - Winnetka, Ill.)
Nick Victor, Yale (Sr., G - Dallas)
*Unanimous Selection
^Second team expanded from five players due to ties in voting