Gooden, Williams head coaches Big 12 picks

Wednesday, March 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Mirroring the media panel's picks, Drew Gooden was named conference Player of the Year by the Big 12 coaches and Roy Williams was the choice for Coach of the Year by his peers, the Big 12 announced Wednesday.

Both men picked up the same titles from The Associated Press this week.

The coaches also named Gooden's teammate, Kirk Hinrich, Texas Tech's Andre Emmett, Oklahoma's Hollis Price, Missouri's Kareem Rush, and Oklahoma's Aaron McGhee to the first team.

The first team included six players because of a tie in the voting, the league said.

McGhee was the only senior named to the first team.

Gooden leads the Big 12 in scoring at 20.6 points a game and in rebounding at 11.1. He had 20 games with double-digit scoring and rebounding, which ties for second on the Big 12 single season list, and was named player of the week four times.

Ebi Ere was the coaches' pick for Newcomer of the Year. The Oklahoma guard is 16th in the league in scoring with a 14.5 average and averages 5.6 rebounds a game.

T.J. Ford was named Freshman of the Year. The Texas point guard leads the nation with 8.7 assists a game and averages 10.5 points a game.

Ere and Ford also won those titles from the AP.