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Of all the big men in college basketball this season, coaches picked Utah center Jakob Poeltl as the best.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches have selected Poeltl as the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year, the organization announced Thursday. The Austrian native and sophomore will receive his award on Sunday in Houston at the NABC Awards show.

Poeltl is the second Ute to win the award, following in the steps of 2005 honoree Andrew Bogut.

http://bit.ly/1Rxs6Lh";>A consensus All American this year, Poeltl was pivotal to Utah's 27-9 season and second straight trip to the Big Dance. He led the team with 17.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 56 blocks and shooting 64.6 percent from the field for the seventh-best mark in the nation. http://bit.ly/1R1dGSo";>He was also the Pac-12 player of the year, and a candidate for several national honors.

The award is named in honor of Pete Newell, a longtime Cal coach who won a national championship in 1959 and was revered for developing centers, according to a release from Utah athletics. Poeltl is the second Pac-12 athlete to win the award after Stanford's Jason Collins in 2001.

Poeltl is widely expected to declare for the 2016 NBA Draft, where he is projected as http://www.draftexpress.com/";>the No. 8 over prospect by DraftExpress.com.

kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon