According to Evan Battey, sophomore forward Jabari Walker was the Player of the Year in the Pac-12 this season.

But while much of Boulder tends to agree with just about everything Battey says, he’s not the only one who determines postseason awards in the Pac-12. Still, Walker got his recognition on Tuesday morning as he was named First Team All-Pac-12.

“It was definitely cool to see that the league recognized that I put a lot of work in over the summer and this is the outcome that I expected,” Walker told the Gazette. “I was hoping for player of the year, but first team, I’ll take it.”

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Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin was the one who ultimately took home player of the year honors after leading the Wildcats to a regular season championship in the Pac-12.

Walker has been a double-double machine for the Buffs this season as his 16 games with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds leads the conference and ranks 9th overall in the country. The Inglewood, Calif. native led CU in both scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 14.7 points and 9.4 boards per game. Those totals were good for 5th and 1st overall, respectively, in the Pac-12.

Battey also picked up all-conference honors for the first time in his career, landing on the second team, while guard KJ Simpson was one of five players on the All-Freshman Team.

Battey, who also was named honorable mention All-Defense, led the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting percentage this season and is averaging a career-high 12 points per game in his final season with the Buffs.

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Simpson has been CU’s sixth man all season long, averaging over 7 points per game and has provided a much-needed spark off the bench in several key games, including 13 points in the recent upset over then-No. 2 Arizona.

“Anytime your team has success and you finish in the first half [of the conference], somebody’s going to get recognized,” coach Tad Boyle told the Gazette. “The thing that I love about this team is we’ve got a lot of guys that have contributed all year. Obviously I’m happy for Jabari, Evan and KJ, but we don’t talk about [awards] a lot.”

The Buffs will head to Las Vegas on Wednesday morning ahead of the team’s first game in the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday afternoon. They enter as the No. 4 seed and will face the winner of Oregon and Oregon State in the quarterfinals with a potential rematch against top-seeded Arizona in the semifinals.

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Those individual honors were definitely a boost for a CU team that is hoping to make it back to the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament this weekend, but Battey, the seasoned veteran, knows those accolades will fade out of memory if they don’t perform on the court.

“It’s stuff that looks cool on your resume, but at the end of the day you’re not going to remember that,” Battey said. “You’re going to remember the team’s wins and losses and how much you accomplished. It’s cool and all, but I’m focused on winning games.”