Just before his senior year at Brookfield Central High School, David Joplin committed to Shaka Smart at Texas.

More than two years later, the 6-foot-7 Joplin is a sophomore playing a key role of the bench for Smart on a Marquette men's basketball team that won its first outright Big East championship. For his efforts, Joplin was named the conference's sixth man of the year on Monday.

Joplin is averaging 9.2 points per game and is one of the Golden Eagles' best three-point shooters at 39.6%.

"I knew when being recruited by him that we wanted to be winners," Joplin said after MU clinched the title with a win at Butler. "We knew that a lot of people wouldn't believe in us. So we decided to put our heads down and keep working. It's all paid off."

Since following Smart to MU, Joplin has gotten in elite shape and has dramatically improved on the defensive end. Against Butler, Joplin had five steals in the first half.

"I thought it was his best defensive game of the year," Smart said after the win. "That's why he played 25 minutes. If guys want to play, if guys want to be in a game when it matters, he's got to star on that end. He's an offensive-minded guy but I thought he was phenomenal with five steals in the first half. He was all over the place, led us in deflections."

But Joplin's main role is as a microwave scorer off the bench. He knocked down 6 of 10 three-pointers and scored 23 points when MU beat Central Michigan at the Al McGuire Center on Nov. 10. His best game came against DePaul on Jan. 28 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, scoring 28 points while knocking down 8 three-pointers.

The job suits Joplin's personality as a super confident marksman. Last week, Joplin was discussing his competitive friendship with roommate at fellow MU sharpshooter Kam Jones.

"When I'm hot, I'm way better than his hot," Joplin said.

Teammate Oso Ighodaro strolled by and was asked who was the better shooter.

"Off dribble, I'm taking K1," Ighodaro said. "Catch and shoot, Jop."

Joplin wasn't hearing it.

"I'm taking Jop in every area of basketball," Joplin said.

Jones and Ighodaro were named to the all-Big East second team on Sunday while MU's Tyler Kolek was a unanimous pick for the first team. The league's player and coach of the year will be announced on Wednesday, with Kolek and Smart being considered favorites.

The Golden Eagles will play in the first round of the Big East tournament at 11 a.m. Central on Thursday against the winner of Butler-St. John's.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's David Joplin named Big East sixth man of year