TAMPA, Fla. β The American Athletic Conference announced its yearly postseason accolades Tuesday.
Amir Abdur-Rahim became the first University of South Florida coach to earn any conference "Coach of the Year" honor. Chris Youngblood earned a "Co-Player of the Year" honor, while Selton Miguel was tabbed as the "Sixth Man of the Year" and "Most Improved Player."
In Abdur-Rahim's first season at USF, he has led the Bulls to a 20-win season, just the sixth time in program history. The 23 wins are the most during the regular season and one shy of tying the most in program history at 24.
USF earned their first-ever ranking and reached No. 24 in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. Abdur-Rahim guided the team to 16 wins in conference play, the most in program history.
The Bulls went on the programβs longest winning streak with 15 games. Abdur-Rahim is the only coach to win their regular season debut and their conference debut.
Youngblood earned his first AAC "Player of the Year" nod and was the first since Charlie Bradley in 1983. He was also selected to the All-AAC first-team and is the first player to do so since Dominique Jones in 2010.
In conference play, Youngblood averaged 15.7 points per game. He led the conference with a 3-point field goal percentage of 45.0 percent. His 45 3-pointers were the fourth most in the AAC. He shot 46.0 percent from the field and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Miguel earned his first "Sixth Man of the Year" and "Most Improved Player" accolades. He landed his first all-conference nod with a second-team honor.
Miguel is the first "Sixth Man of the Year" since Altron Jackson in 2001. He averaged 14.9 points per game with 3.0 rebounds per contest. He finished conference play shooting 79.1 percent from the free-throw line, 41.4 percent from the field, and 33.3 percent from 3-point range.
Jayden Reid was named to the AAC All-Freshman Team. He finished his first year with 5.7 points per game and 2.3 rebounds a contest. He led the team with 47 assists, added 21 steals, shot 53.8 percent from 3-point range, 42.9 percent from the field and 72.5 percent from the free throw line.
American Athletic Conference Accolades
Players of the Year
Johnell Davis, Jr., G, Florida Atlantic
Chris Youngblood, Sr., G, USF
Coach of the Year
Amir Abdur-Rahim, USF*
Defensive Player of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Jr., F, UAB
Freshman of the Year
PJ Haggerty, G, Tulsa*
Most Improved Player
Selton Miguel, Sr., G, USF
Sixth Man of the Year
Selton Miguel, Sr., G, USF*
Sportsmanship Award
Sion James, Jr., G, Tulane
All-Conference First Team
Yaxel Lendeborg, Jr., F, UAB
Johnell Davis, Jr., G, Florida Atlantic*
David Jones, Sr., G, Memphis
Jason Edwards, So., G, North Texas
Chris Youngblood, Sr., G, USF
All-Conference Second Team
LuβCye Patterson, Jr., G, Charlotte
Vladislav Goldin, Jr., C, Florida Atlantic
Alijah Martin, Jr., G, Florida Atlantic
Selton Miguel, Sr., G, USF
Zhuric Phelps, Jr., G, SMU
All-Conference Third Team
Igor Milicic Jr, Jr., F, Charlotte
RJ Felton, Jr., G, East Carolina
Jahvon Quinerly, Sr., G, Memphis
Kevin Cross, Sr., F, Tulane
PJ Haggerty, Fr., G, Tulsa
All-Freshman Team
Keanu Dawes, F, Rice*
Jayden Reid, G, USF*
Zion Stanford, G, Temple
Tyshawn Archie, G, Tulsa
PJ Haggerty, G, Tulsa*
Matt Reed, F, Tulsa
* denotes unanimous selection
The Bulls begin the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday, March 15, in Fort Worth, Texas.
USF, the No. 1 seed, will play the winner of the No. 8 East Carolina and the No. 9 Tulsa matchup at 1 p.m. ET.