Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Larry Bird Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Missouri Valley Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1968–69 season. It was renamed to honor Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who played at Indiana State from 1977 to 1979 and led the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA Championship game. Bird won every major player of the year award (including the Naismith and Wooden awards) in 1979.

Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding basketball player in the Missouri Valley Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	1969
Most recent	Bennett Stirtz, Drake

Drake has the most all-time winners with eight. Four current conference members have not had a winner, but three of them (Belmont, Murray State, and UIC) played their first MVC seasons in 2022–23, and the other (Valparaiso) played its first MVC season in 2017–18.

There have never been any ties for the player of the year, but there have been 10 repeat winners in the award's history. Of the repeat winners, Fred VanVleet of Wichita State (2014 and 2016) and A. J. Green of Northern Iowa (2020, 2022) won in non-consecutive years.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national player of the year award: Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79) UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present)
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the MVC Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Jim Ard, Cincinnati, 1970

Jeff Halliburton, Drake, 1971

Roger Phegley, Bradley, 1977

Larry Bird, Indiana State, 1978 and 1979

Paul Pressey, Tulsa, 1982

Jim Les, Bradley, 1986

Anthony Parker, Bradley, 1996

Marcus Wilson, Evansville, 1999

Kyle Korver, Creighton, 2002 and 2003

Paul Miller, Wichita State, 2006

Adam Koch, Northern Iowa, 2010

Kyle Weems, Missouri State, 2011

Doug McDermott, Creighton, 2012 and 2013

Fred VanVleet, Wichita State, 2014 and 2016

Seth Tuttle, Northern Iowa, 2015

Marques Townes, Loyola, 2019

A. J. Green, Northern Iowa, 2020 and 2022

Tucker DeVries, Drake, 2023 and 2024

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1968–69	Bingo Smith	Tulsa	SF	Senior	[1]
1969–70	Jim Ard	Cincinnati	C	Senior	[2]
1970–71	Jeff Halliburton	Drake	SF	Senior	[3]
1971–72	Larry Finch	Memphis	G	Junior	[4]
1972–73	Larry Kenon	Memphis	PF	Junior	[5]
1973–74	Junior Bridgeman	Louisville	SF	Junior	[6]
1974–75	Junior Bridgeman (2)	Louisville	SF	Senior	[7]
1975–76	Mike Glenn	Southern Illinois	PG	Junior	[8]
1976–77	Roger Phegley	Bradley	SG	Junior	[9]
1977–78	Larry Bird	Indiana State	SF	Junior	[10]
1978–79	Larry Bird* (2)	Indiana State	SF	Senior	[11]
1979–80	Lewis Lloyd	Drake	SF / SG	Junior	[12]
1980–81	Lewis Lloyd (2)	Drake	SF / SG	Senior	[13]
1981–82	Paul Pressey	Tulsa	PG / F	Senior	[14]
1982–83	Antoine Carr	Wichita State	C	Senior	[14]
1983–84	Xavier McDaniel	Wichita State	PF	Junior	[15]
1984–85	Xavier McDaniel (2)	Wichita State	PF	Senior	[16]
1985–86	Jim Les	Bradley	PG	Senior	[17]
1986–87	Hersey Hawkins	Bradley	SG	Junior	[18]
1987–88	Hersey Hawkins* (2)	Bradley	SG	Senior	[19]
1988–89	Anthony Manuel	Bradley	PG	Senior	[20]
1989–90	Bob Harstad	Creighton	PF	Junior	[21]
1990–91	Chad Gallagher	Creighton	C	Senior	[22]
1991–92	Ashraf Amaya	Southern Illinois	PF	Junior	[23]
1992–93	Curt Smith	Drake	PG	Junior	[24]
1993–94	Gary Collier	Tulsa	SF	Senior	[25]
1994–95	Chris Carr	Southern Illinois	SG	Junior	[26]
1995–96	Anthony Parker	Bradley	SG / SF	Junior	[27]
1996–97	Jason Daisy	Northern Iowa	PG	Senior	[28]
1997–98	Rico Hill	Illinois State	F	Senior	[29]
1998–99	Marcus Wilson	Evansville	SG / PG	Senior	[30]
1999–00	Nate Green	Indiana State	SF	Senior	[31]
2000–01	Tarise Bryson	Illinois State	PG	Junior	[32]
2001–02	Kyle Korver	Creighton	SF / SG	Junior	[33]
2002–03	Kyle Korver (2)	Creighton	SF / SG	Senior	[33]
2003–04	Darren Brooks	Southern Illinois	G	Junior	[34]
2004–05	Darren Brooks (2)	Southern Illinois	G	Senior	[34]
2005–06	Paul Miller	Wichita State	C	Senior	[35]
2006–07	Jamaal Tatum	Southern Illinois	SG	Senior	[36]
2007–08	Adam Emmenecker	Drake	PG	Senior	[37]
2008–09	Booker Woodfox	Creighton	SG	Senior	[38]
2009–10	Adam Koch	Northern Iowa	PF	Senior	[39]
2010–11	Kyle Weems	Missouri State	SF	Junior	[40]
2011–12	Doug McDermott	Creighton	SF / PF	Sophomore	[41]
2012–13	Doug McDermott (2)	Creighton	SF / PF	Junior	[41]
2013–14	Fred VanVleet	Wichita State	PG	Sophomore	[42]
2014–15	Seth Tuttle	Northern Iowa	PF	Senior	[43]
2015–16	Fred VanVleet (2)	Wichita State	PG	Senior	[44]
2016–17	Paris Lee	Illinois State	PG	Senior	[45]
2017–18	Clayton Custer	Loyola	PG	Junior	[46]
2018–19	Marques Townes	Loyola	SG	Senior	[47]
2019–20	A. J. Green	Northern Iowa	PG	Sophomore	[48]
2020–21	Cameron Krutwig	Loyola	C	Senior	[49]
2021–22	A. J. Green (2)	Northern Iowa	PG	Junior	[50]
2022–23	Tucker DeVries	Drake	SG / SF	Sophomore	[51]
2023–24	Tucker DeVries (2)	Drake	SG / SF	Junior	[52]
2024–25	Bennett Stirtz	Drake	PG	Junior	[53]

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Drake (1907)	8	1971, 1980, 1981, 1993, 2008, 2023, 2024, 2025
Creighton (1977)[a]	7	1990, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2013
Bradley (1948)	6	1977, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1996
Southern Illinois (1975)	6	1976, 1992, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2007
Wichita State (1945)[b]	6	1983, 1984, 1985, 2006, 2014, 2016
Northern Iowa (1991)	5	1997, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2022
Illinois State (1981)	3	1998, 2001, 2017
Indiana State (1977)	3	1978, 1979, 2000
Loyola (2013)[c]	3	2018, 2019, 2021
Tulsa (1935)[d]	3	1969, 1982, 1994
Louisville (1963)[e]	2	1974, 1975
Memphis (1968)[f]	2	1972, 1973
Cincinnati (1957)[g]	1	1970
Evansville (1994)	1	1999
Missouri State (1990)[h]	1	2011
Belmont (2022)	0	—
Murray State (2022)	0	—
UIC (2022)	0	—
Valparaiso (2017)	0	—

1. Creighton University left in 2013 to join the Big East Conference.
2. Wichita State University left in 2017 to join the American Athletic Conference (The American).
3. Loyola University Chicago left in 2022 to join the Atlantic 10 Conference.
4. The University of Tulsa left in 1996 to join the Western Athletic Conference, and is now in The American.
5. The University of Louisville left in 1975 to become a founding member of the Metro Conference, and is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
6. The University of Memphis left in 1973 and briefly went independent before becoming a founding member of the Metro Conference. The school is now in The American.
7. The University of Cincinnati left in 1970 to go independent, and is now in the Big 12 Conference.
8. Missouri State University will leave in 2025 to join Conference USA.