Markus Howard joined a special fraternity yesterday being named Big East Player of the Year. The names in that brotherhood feature some of the biggest names in college and professional basketball. Howard joins guys like Ray Allen, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Kris Dunn, Otto Porter and others. Howard is the second Marquette player to get this honor with Jae Crowder being the first in 2011-2012. While the season did not end in a positive manner for Marquette, Howard’s full Big East year was something to marvel at for basketball fans.

Howard finished the season averaging 25 points per game. That’s the high in the Big East this season. Howard took home more Big East Player of the Week honors that he could count that it seemed inevitable he would be the Player of the Year for the conference. For many non-Marquette fans, Howard getting warm was one of the more fun things of the Big East season. At times this season, he had a Steph Curry-like feel to him where the Marquette point guard would get warm and everyone would lose their fucking shit online. This is also part of the reason why the Golden Eagles’ recent struggles have become such a bummer because Howard is exactly the type of player that can light up March.

There are all sorts of fun stats to admire Howard’s season. He had six games this season where he scored more than 30 points. Howard broke the Big East scoring record by dropping 53 against Creighton in early January. Howard scored 38 of Marquette’s 66 points to beat Villanova. Eight times in the Big East season, Howard had four or more made three-pointers. Sure, there were some definite down times in his season, but it is hard to be perfect for an entire conference campaign. When you are, that’s the time when people consider you for National Player of the Year. An honor that will not be coming Howard’s way this year.

If this is the last year of Howard in the Big East, he etch his name as part of the conference’s lore. If he comes back for his senior year, Howard could be a legend.

Charlie.