Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim was voted Big East coach of the year Tuesday.

NEW YORK — Jim Boeheim was voted Big East coach of the year Tuesday after perhaps the most masterful job of his Hall of Fame career, guiding a team that was unranked to begin the season to a conference regular-season championship.

Boeheim joined UConn coach Jim Calhoun as the only four-time winners. Former Georgetown coach John Thompson and former St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca each won the award three times.

"Our players and staff have worked so hard this year," Boeheim said after accepting the hefty, wooden trophy. "What these kids have done this year has surprised me as much as anybody. They've been tremendous the way they've played together, the way they've had each others' backs.

"It's the best regular season we've ever had at Syracuse, and we've had a few."

Syracuse forward Wes Johnson was voted player of the year, giving a decidedly Orange flavor to the league's top individual honors.

Cincinnati guard Lance Stephenson was rookie of the year in balloting by the league's coaches, while Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis was the scholar athlete of the year.

In his 34th season as head coach, Boeheim led the Orange to their first regular-season Big East title since 2002-03.

Syracuse was picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches' poll after losing Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris from a team that nearly won last year's conference tournament. But the Orange made a statement by rattling off 13 straight wins to start the season, and later became the first team since Kansas in January 1990 to rise from outside The Associated Press poll to No. 1

A loss to Louisville over the weekend dropped Syracuse to No. 3 in the rankings, but by then another top seed in the Big East tournament was already in the books. The Orange (28-3) will play South Florida or Georgetown in the quarterfinals Thursday.