Philadelphia — The league tournament season is here. So is the awards season.

The All-Big East teams will be announced on Monday, two days before the start of the men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York. Individual awards will be released Tuesday and Wednesday.

Several UConn players have a great shot at being honored.

Sophomore Jordan Hawkins and junior Adama Sanogo are basically locks to make either the All-Big East first or second team. They also are in the running for player of the year.

Alex Karaban is a strong contender for Big East freshman of the year. He played against his biggest challenger in Villanova’s Cam Whitmore Saturday night in the regular season finale at Wells Fargo Center.

Let’s take a closer look at UConn’s candidates for league awards.

Sanogo, the Big East’s preseason player of the year, and Hawkins are in the running for All-Big East first team honors.

Entering the final day of the regular season, Hawkins ranked third in scoring (16.9) in Big East games while Sanogo stood fourth (16.5) and also was fifth in rebounding (7.5).

There’s some stiff competition.

Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, who led his team to the program’s first Big East regular season championship, is a sure thing and a chance to be the player of the year. Xavier’s Souley Boum (17.1 points) and Providence’s Bryce Hopkins (a Big East leading 17.4 points, second in rebounding at 8.8) will likely make the cut for first team. Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner (14.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, a league-leading 2.7 blocks) is another possible choice.

UConn coach Dan Hurley knows it may be tough for UConn to place both Hawkins and Sanogo on that list.

“Both guys have played at an all-conference level,” Hurley said recently. “But there’s a lot of great players in the league this year. I think it’s going to be tough. I do think the ballots this year are tougher than maybe in some past years. It feels like there’s more talent in the league and potentially multi-draft picks in the league.”

Both R.J. Cole and Sanogo earned first team honors last season for the Huskies, who finished in third place.

Hurley can make an excellent case for Karaban to be freshman of the year. He’s made a substantial impact on UConn’s success, starting all but one game. He’s averaging 9.5 points and 4.4 rebounds. He’s second on the team in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.4.

And teammate Donovan Clingan, who’s averaging 7.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in a productive 13.4 minutes, also could receive some votes.

“Our two freshmen have been unbelievable,” Hurley said. “For Alex to start the four (spot) in a league where there are so many good four men and to have the type of season that we’ve had to this point, and won as much as we’ve won with him as a starter all the way through, you would think that would be Alex’s.

“And then Donovan would be right there with him because of the impact and the fact that we’ve won big and we’re ranked and we’re going to our third straight tournament and have played big games and obviously we’ve brought a lot to our league.”

“Maybe our guys should get the benefit of the doubt.”

Whitmore, the preseason league freshman of the year, will be difficult to beat. He’s the top freshman scorer in the league at 12.6 points and also averages 5.1 rebounds in a starting role.

News and notes

Reserve guard Hassan Diarra was available to play after missing the last two games with an abdominal strain. … Prior to Saturday, the Huskies hadn’t won at Villanova since scoring a 73-70 overtime win on Feb. 20, 2012. … UConn was shooting to win its 24th game overall – the most during Hurley’s five-year tenure. “There’s not many teams in the country that have a chance to get to 24 regular season wins,” Hurley said Friday. “Twenty-four and seven sounds a lot better than 23-8.”

g.keefe@theday.com