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NEW YORK | One year ago, combining Luke Harangody and Big East Player of the Year in the same sentence might have seemed even less realistic than the Notre Dame football team finishing with a 3-9 record. But if one of those things can happen, there's no question the other could.

Harangody, an Andrean graduate, captured the Big East Player of the Year award Tuesday night during the conference awards ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, capping off a year in which he led Notre Dame to a 24-6 regular-season record and an unexpectedly high tie for second place in the Big East.

"I was a little bit (surprised)," Harangody told The Times. "Coming from where I'm from, from where I was, just to be here right now is a great honor."

It's been quite a sophomore season for the 6-foot-8 forward. He finished first in scoring (23.3 per game) and rebounding (11.3) in league play one year after averaging only 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds overall. Perhaps the biggest reason for Harangody's increased productivity is simple: He's stayed on the floor more.

As a freshman he averaged about only 20 minutes per game. This season he's averaged nearly 36 minutes. A lot of that credit goes to learning from the rigors of his first season.

"I think being a freshman last year helped me learn what I need to do to keep my body going throughout the whole year," Harangody said.

The one game that probably sealed the award for Harangody was, of all things, a 90-85 loss to Louisville on Feb. 28. Harangody finished the game with a career-high 40 points and 12 rebounds, while also keeping Notre Dame in it late with the first three 3-pointers of his career.

He led the Irish in scoring in 20 of their 30 regular-season games and led them in rebounding in 22. He was named Big East Player of the Week three times, which makes him the active career leader in that category, and finished tied with Connecticut's Jeff Adrien atop the conference with 16 double-doubles.

That said, Harangody wasn't the only member of the Notre Dame basketball team to net an award. Coach Mike Brey won his second consecutive Big East Coach of the Year award after the Irish were picked to finish ninth in the conference in the preseason coaches poll.

"It's a humbling thing really, when you think about it," Brey said. "As (Big East commissioner) Mike (Tranghese) said, we've got 15 other guys in this league and there's a lot of guys who did a heck of a job."