But most of those awards are directed to players who have become household names to fans of college basketball. In this series, and without taking anything away from those whose achievements on the court have brought them well-earned honors, we'd like to take a moment to aim the spotlight at a different breed of player. They are low-maintenance. They rarely appear in game stories. They may not show often in the box score. They may not start many games. But few teams can survive without what Pitt Coach Agnus Beranato calls the “lunch-pail, hard-hat” players: Those who come to practice early, work tirelessly, give maximum effort during their time on the court, rarely make mistakes, and contribute in important ways, all without the glory.

Coaches know who they are. St. John’s Coach Kim Barnes-Arico believes that “every team needs at least one player like that – the high-energy player, the one who is always doing the little things to make the team succeed,” Barnes-Arico continued, “ the one who will take a charge, dive for loose ball, never take a play off.” To those players we award the Full Court Press Golden Lunch Bucket, and our sincere appreciation for a job well done.

Let's start with the Big East:

Heather Zurich, 6’1’, Senior, Forward, Rutgers

Rutgers’ Heather Zurich works to keep the ball alive against Louisville's Angel McCoughtry. Hard defense and consistency are two big pieces of what Zurich brings to the table.

Year after year, the other names were on the lips of ESPN announcers, as Rutgers pursued one of the toughest schedules in the country, reached the Elite Eight twice, and played an NCAA final: “Matee Ajavon, Essence Carson, Epiphany Prince, Kia Vaughn.” Yet there on the floor, frequently as a starter, for each of those Rutgers games was Heather Zurich. Zurich, a guard moved into the forward spot by necessity early in her career, knew she was coming to a team where, unlike her time at Pascack Hills High in New Jersey, she would not be a star.

“I knew my role, and it has never bothered me,” she said. “I came here because I wanted to challenge myself. As long as I’m a part of this team, the name on the back [of the jersey] doesn’t matter – it’s the name on the front.”

“Consistent” is the word one hears about Zurich, from both teammates and her coach. “It’s about confidence,” Coach C. Vivian Stringer told the Bergen Record. Kia Vaughn, Rutgers’ other senior, “is sometimes the best [player] in the world, and . . . sometimes the worst in the world,” Stringer continued. “I’d rather have the consistent player, Heather.”

Zurich says that her primary role has “always been to make the pass inside, to play hard defense, to box and rebound.” But she has not lost her shooting touch, and she will shoot when left open. This season, she has been successful 45% of the time, and hit 13 of 38 threes (.342).

Zurich’s senior leadership style is personal, and centers on the talented, but slow-developing, freshmen. “I try to help them any way possible,” she explained, “whether helping them to learn plays, or giving them rides, or encouraging them when Coach gets hard on them. . . . We’ve all been through freshman year, and Coach can be hard on you,” Zurich continued, “so I try to do a lot of talking and hand-holding, to give them a balance, to let them know that it isn’t bad when she’s yelling – it’s when she stops talking to you that you should worry.”

Kate Popovec, 6'3", Freshman, Center, Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's Kate Popovec (50) attempts to block a pass by Providence's Emily Cournoyeer (left) in a January game. Just a freshman, she has gained a reputation for coming to the gym "with her lunch pail and hard hat," says her coach.

Agnus Beranato really talks like this. “Kate is such a hard worker. Every day she comes to the gym with her lunch pail and her hard hat, wanting to get better today, and to make everyone else better, too.”

In practice, Popovec “challenges our [starting] posts every play,” Beranato explained. “They get better seeing her battling in practice.”

Popovec has never started a game, but prior to a mid-season injury, she was the team’s leading rebounder. She both understands and embraces her role off the bench.

“I love to come off the bench and spark my team with energy and by doing the dirty work – boxing out, setting a good screen, cutting to the hoop to free up a teammate – anything I can do to provide energy and hustle.”

Although she has five double-figure scoring games, her average is five points and 14 minutes. These offensive numbers don’t phase her a bit.

“Scoring is important,” she concedes, “but it won’t win you a championship. I do what Coach needs me to do, which is rebound, provide energy, and help my teammates.”

Berenato loves that attitude: “That’s what you want from your bench players.”

Angel Morgan, 5'8", Senior, Guard, Cincinnati

It takes more than size or a big name to intimidate Cincinnati's Angel Morgan (25), shown grabbing the ball in front of Rutgers' Kia Vaughn (15) during the second half of a game this February. Rutgers won that one, 71-52, but Morgan has made a reputation as a relentless rebounder, despite her diminutive stature.

Angel Morgan is actually Cincinnati’s leading rebounder, so she’s been in the box score. She averages 7.6 boards per game, and with a career high of 14. Only twice in her career has she been the Bearcat’s leading scorer. She has quietly accumulated 25 steals on the season, along with 85 assists. Her final college home game was typical of her performance for Cincinnati: one point, eight boards, five assists.

Morgan gets included here because rebounding is all about heart and instinct, especially when you are generously listed at 5'8". She became the Big East’s fourth-best rebounder on desire and technique, along with some leaping ability among the trees.

“I don’t really know how I do it [rebound as a short player],” Morgan declared. “It’s just a natural feeling about where to find the ball. I call it a God-given talent.”

She does know, however, what made her into a team leader. As a senior, “I realized if I didn’t do it, it wasn’t going to happen,” she says.

Coach J. Kelley Hall notes that Morgan has became a “really good communicator, taking a great attitude into the locker room, teaching the youngsters, even when she’s on the bench. When she gets on the floor, she’s a really good passer,” Hall noted. “She often makes the pass that leads to an assist.” As for her rebounding, Hall attributes her success to “very good positioning, and an amazing straight-up jump. She’s not overly athletic,” the coach observed, “but she has great moves--that jump, and the best shot fake I’ve seen.”

Joy McCorvey, 6'0", Junior, Forward, St.John’s

St. John's Joy McCorvey (25) and teammate Monique McClean, head to the floor in a scramble for the loose ball with Louisville's Brandie Radde and Patrika Barlow, left. That extra hustle is McCorvey's hallmark.

McCorvey ranks in exactly zero statistical categories in the Big East. Her value to St.John’s, however, is everywhere. It is in hustle, in active, vocal leadership, in guidance for her teammates. These intangible skills were evident even in her first year, and Coach Kim Barnes-Arico rewarded her hustle and desire by making her a tri-captain in her sophomore year.

“My role is being a motivator for the team, diving on the floor, hustling all the time, doing all the little things, and bringing energy all the time,” McCorvey said recently. “When I’m like that, it’s like a chain . . . If I’m doing those things, it really brings my team up, but if I don’t keep that energy, I can see the difference in how we play.”

McCorvey averages under seven points in 24 minutes a game, but connects on 60% of her shot attempts. Her coach sees this as another example of McCorvey’s basketball IQ, saying, “She just doesn’t take bad shots.”

The junior also shows a remarkable understanding of leadership, explaining that “it’s all about knowing the personnel: Some people can be motivated by yelling, others you just need that soft tone. It’s all about keeping them confident even when they are making mistakes.”

This year, as the sole captain, she has done everything her coach could ask. “There’s not a lot of players who understand what is truly important, but Joy does,” Barnes-Arico said. “She doesn’t care if anybody notices her contributions. She only cares if the team wins.”

Meghan Gardler, 6'0", Junior, Forward, Connecticut

Connecticut's Meghan Gardler protects a loose ball with her body in last week's game against Seton Hall, as teammate Kaili McLaren, right, moves in to help. At left is Seton Hall's Noteisha Womack.UConn defeated Seton Hall 81-50 to win the Big East regular season championship outright. Her better known teammates get most of the glory, but Coach Auriemma says Gardler's minutes on the floor are rarely wasted.

It’s all about energy for Gardler, who many dismissed as coming to UConn only as a favor to her Dad, Geno’ Auriemma’s high school coach. But that perception has been proven wrong in her junior year, where the Huskies’ lack of depth in the post has given Gardler playing time in pressure situations. She has held her own as an undersized post player, usually guarding taller and more heralded players.

Gardler plays just under 12 minutes a game, but makes the most of them: Diving to the floor; grabbing, on effort and instinct, offensive boards; and muscling much larger players out of their comfort zone.

Auriemma has long understood Gardler’s value. After she steadied the team against Rutgers in January, Coach G had this to say: “I guess when you’re not tall enough, when you’re not quick enough, not fast enough and athletic enough, you have to do all the little things that make you a good player, and Meghan did that. . . . The way Meghan plays the game is the way it used to be played in the old days,” he continued. “When you have four scorers out there and you put her out there, she’s a great complement at times to what everybody else is doing.”

Gardler frequently guards centers, and under those circumstances, averages a foul every nine minutes. But players she guards rarely get easy buckets. She understands the UConn approach to the game, and has occasionally been subbed in to calm down an offense running ahead of itself. Scoring is not expected (her season high is seven), but Gardler’s minutes are rarely wasted, and if she is on the floor, the team needs her special skills right then, even is only for a short while.

Erin Monfre, 5'11", Senior, Guard, Marquette

Marquette's defensive stopper, Erin Monfre, right, draws the tough assignments, such as guarding Louisville's Angel McCoughtry last week. Also shown: Marquette's Marissa Thrower. against the defense of Marquette's Marissa Thrower, left.

She started 17 games as a sophomore, but only nine as a senior. This season’s 4.2 points and 18 minutes a game are both career highs. She has never shot often, or particularly accurately, and when she does let one fly, she does so mostly from beyond the arc.

But Monfre has been one of those “glue” players throughout her four seasons at Marquette. She protects the ball, and passes it well (2.2:1 assist:turnover ratio, best on the team). She comes off the bench to guard the best wings in the game.

On a team that needs points, however, her limited scoring often has kept her on the bench, just as her defensive skills have put her on the court. When there, she makes the most of her time, trying to provide energy and to disrupt the opponent’s offensive flow. Unlike many of the players in this group, her intangibles are not in raw energy output, but in “showing my enthusiasm, and the passion I have for the game,” Monfre explained.

“I’m more of a 'quiet leader,'" she continued, “giving encouragement to the young players, helping them to stay ‘up’ even after a bad play or a missed layup.” She tries to shepherd the two freshman posts, and even Marquette’s best player, sophomore Angel Robinson. “They are so young,” she said, “I’m not sure it’s hit how good they are, starting in the Big East. I’m constantly talking to them . . . trying to be sure they are not taking any games for granted. . . . And I try to show them how – by playing hard all the time, and filling my role as a defensive stopper.”

Coach Terri Mitchell praises Monfre’s high basketball intelligence: “She can complete the sentence of the coach,” Mitchell declared. “She has a coach’s mind, and the intangible of putting the game plan in [her teammates’] terms, where they can understand it as well as she does.”

“She has always played great defense – we put her on the other team’s best guard – and lately, that defense has been at a whole other level, just unbelievable.” Now, however, “she seems to have that senior thing going,” Mitchell continued, “like it’s all coming to an end, and her intensity has stepped up even more.” Her willingness, perhaps for the first time, to take every good open shot, has made her an indispensable part of the post-season surge Marquette hopes to make.

Stay Tuned for More in Our Golden Lunch Bucket Series

Every successful team has these “hard-hat” players. They play the game with intensity and in relative obscurity, but their value is not lost on those who follow and understand the game. Many of them act as player-coaches, either on the bench or in the locker room. And their real coaches appreciate their contributions as much as they do those of the leading scorer. Teammates seek out their advice, and treasure their friendship Not one of them misses the spotlight, and each of them is happy with her college basketball career. How much better than that can it get?

Stay tuned as we fill you in on more of our Full Court Press Golden Lunch Bucket honorees from other conferences. And join us on our message boards, where you can submit your own nominees for this honor.

Jim Clark is a career prosecutor in the New Haven Connecticut State’s Attorney’s Office, and an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. He has tried 35 murder cases, and dozens of other felonies. A life-long student of the game, and a correspondent for both Full Court Press and Women's Basketball Magazine, Jim officiates high school volleyball and basketball, and will ride 100 miles around Lake Tahoe in the “World’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride” in June to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.