The Big East announced more postseason awards and honors on Monday and Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn received more recognition a day after being unanimous selections to the Big East First Team on Sunday. Bentil was named the league’s Most Improved Player after leading the Big East in scoring at 21.2 points/game. Dunn repeats as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year after sharing the award with St. John’s Sir’Dominic Pointer last season.

Bentil was the runaway selection for this award after going from a freshman role player to one of the best big men in America in the span of one season. Bentil’s increase in scoring output has been nothing short of shocking. He went from 6.4 points/game in 21.5 minutes/game as a freshman to 21.2 points/game in 34.2 minutes/game as a sophomore.

Dunn’s defensive prowess was routinely on display and even when his offensive game struggled because of double and triple teams and illness, he still managed to make an impact on the defensive end. He led the Big East with 2.7 steals/game — the same average as a season ago.

The league will announce Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete on Wednesday at 4:30pm ET at a press conference. Other awards announced Monday were JP Macura (Xavier) winning the Six Man Award and Kellen Dunham (Butler) receiving the Sportsmanship Award.

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