Oregon junior Dillon Brooks was named Pac-12 player of the year in a vote of conference coaches Monday, and a first-team all-American by USA Today. In addition, junior Jordan Bell was named Pac-12 defensive player of the year by conference coaches. Brooks was Oregon’s lone member of the 10-player all-conference first team, Bell was a second-team pick and Chris Boucher and Tyler Dorsey earned honorable mention. The regular-season conference co-champion Ducks return to action Thursday as the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, against either Stanford or Arizona State in a quarterfinal game beginning at noon in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Brooks, who led the Ducks with 16.0 points per game in the regular season, is the fifth conference player of the year in program history and the second in three years. “I thought that should have been a unanimous choice,” Bell said. “He’s killed it. I thought he should have got it last year, too, but I’m happy they finally voted for him.” A first-team Associated Press preseason all-American, Brooks returned from a foot injury in time to help the Ducks stabilize themselves following a 2-2 start. Oregon went 25-2 after Brooks’ season debut against Georgetown, including an undefeated mark at home that extended the Ducks’ NCAA-best active home win streak to 42 games. And Brooks was at his best in big moments, hitting game-winning three-pointers Dec. 28 in Oregon’s Pac-12 opener against UCLA, and at California on Feb. 22. Brooks also scored the Ducks’ final 12 points in a one-point win over Arizona State on Feb. 4; he was named Pac-12 player of the week following all three of those clutch performances.
