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Stanford Forward Chiney Ogwumike celebrates during a Cardinal win
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

UPDATE: The Pac-12 released the conference’s media awards. I’m in total disagreement with my peers. No surprise there. Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb was voted Coach of the Year while Stanford star Chiney Ogwumike was the media’s pick for Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Oregon F Jillian Alleyne was named Freshman of the Year. Washington’s Kristi Kingma and Jazmine Davis were part of the All-Pac-12 team and F Talia Walton is an All-Freshman Team member.

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No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Connecticut are deciding the Big East Conference regular-season championship on ESPN2′s Big Monday lineup at 4pm (PT). But the Pac-12 is chilling. With its dual champions in No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 California already crowned, focus has turned to the inaugural Pac-12 tournament at KeyArena from Thursday to Sunday.

Fifth-seeded Washington (19-10, 11-7 Pac-12) hosts last-placed Oregon at 8:30pm on Thursday. Cross-state rival Washington State (10-19, 6-12) is seeded eighth and plays Arizona State at 6pm. Day 1 action begins with No. 7 seed USC (7-11, 10-19) against No. 10 Oregon State (4-14, 10-20) at  noon.

Postseason awards should be announced this week. My ballot is below. If I could give an award for sportsmanship or most heart, UW G Kristi Kingma would be my first pick. But other more talented players made the list of top-15 ahead of her. Kingma, a redshirt senior, was voted All-Pac-12 as a junior.

I debated Huskies coach Kevin McGuff for Pac-12 Coach of the Year. But, until someone handily beats the Cardinal, it always feels like punishing coach Tara VanDerveer for being a good leader, recruiter and constantly winning if I don’t vote her as conference COY.

McGuff did way more than any expected in considering the injuries and youth his squad had to overcome this season, but did Washington beat Stanford? Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s team did, but her roster was built to succeed before she arrived and needs her guidance to continue to be a success.

So, here’s the ballot. The top player in the All-Pac-12 and All-Defense categories is also my pick for Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Enjoy.

All-Pac-12

1. Chiney Ogwumike
2. Davelynn Whyte
3. Chucky Jeffery
4. Markel Walker
5. Brittany Boyd
6. Layshia Clarendon
7. Gennifer Brandon
8. Alyssia Brewer
9. Jazmine Davis
10. Amber Orrange
11. Aminah Williams
12. Talia Caldwell
13. Arielle Roberson
14. Cassie Harberts
15. Lia Galdeira

All-Pac-12 Defense
1. Chiney Ogwumike
2. Markel Walker
3. Chucky Jeffery
4. Brittany Boyd
5. Lia Galdeira

All-Pac-12 Freshman
1. Arielle Roberson
2. Talia Walton
3. Jaime Weisner
4. Lia Galdeira
5. Jillian Alleyne

Coach of the Year
1. Tara VanDerveer
2. Kevin McGuff