NEW YORK | Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, the 2007-08 Big East Player of the Year, has been named 2008-09 Big East Preseason Player of the Year by a vote of the league's head coaches.

A 6-foot-8 forward and an Andrean grad, Harangody was the Big East's scoring and rebounding champion in league games last season. He averaged 23.3 points and 11.3 rebounds, statistics that were even better than his overall averages of 20.4 points and 10.6 rebounds. A native of Schererville, Harangody is the first reigning Big East Player of the Year to forego an immediate professional basketball career since Pittsburgh's Brandin Knight shared Player of the Year honors with Connecticut's Caron Butler in 2001-02 and came back to play in 2002-03.

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