St. John’s basketball: Mike Anderson, Posh Alexander win top awards

St. John’s basketball head coach Mike Anderson and point guard Posh Alexander took home top honors in the Big East Conference. 

For the first since the first year of the conference’s realignment , the St. John’s basketball program is not playing on the first night of the Big East Tournament but the Red Storm (16-10, 10-9 Big East) are still in the news.

Head coach Mike Anderson was named as the conference’s Coach of the Year while point guard Posh Alexander was named as the Freshman of the Year.

Anderson is the third St. John’s head coach to win the award, the first since Brian Mahoney during the 1992-93 season.

Lou Carnesecca won the award three times in 1983, 1985 and 1986.

The Johnnies were picked to finish 9th in the Big East Conference Preseason Coaches Poll but after a 1-5 start in the conference, the Red Storm rallied to be the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, its highest seeding since 2000.

In just two seasons in Queens, Mike Anderson has posted two winning years and led St. John’s to its first .500 or better finish in the conference for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

Anderson has never finished the year with a losing recored as a head coach.

ALSO READ: St. John’s stars earn top honors in Big East Conference

In a victory over Xavier in mid-February, Mike Anderson also reached career win No. 400.

Posh Alexander becomes the fourth player in program history to win Big East Freshman of the Year Award, the first since JaKarr Sampson in 2012-13.

Moe Harkless won the award the previous season in 2011-12 and David Russell won the first ever Big East Freshman of the Year Award in 1979-1980.

Alexander was also named the Co-Big East Defensive Player of the Year and becomes the third player to win the Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year Award, joining Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson.

The Brooklyn, New York native averaged 11.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.6 steals per game with a 46.1-shooting percentage from the field and 30.8-percent from beyond the arc.

St. John’s basketball star falls short in on award race

Many thought St. John’s sophomore star Julian Champagnie should have won the Big East Player of the Year Award.

Champagnie was one of six players that could have won the award after being named to the All-Big East First Team and named as the conference’s Most Improved Player.

ALSO READ: Julian Champagnie, Posh Alexander share awards

However, the award was a three-way tie, as voted on by the coaches, between Villanova’s Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl as well as Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili.

St. John’s will get a chance to win the season series against Mamukelashvili and the Pirates in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament on Thursday, March 11 at 3:00pm EST (Fox Sports 1).