The Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year

The Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award given to the best men's basketball player in NCAA Division I competition. The award was first given following the 1942–43 season and is presented by The Sporting News (known from 2002–2022 as Sporting News), an American–based sports magazine established in 1886.^[1][2]

The Sporting News Men's College Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding NCAA Division I men's basketball player
Country	United States
Presented by	The Sporting News magazine
History
First award	1943
Most recent	Johni Broome, Auburn

No award winners were selected from 1947 to 1949 and from 1952 to 1957. Repeat winners of The Sporting News Player of the Year award are rare. As of 2025, it has occurred only eight times. Of those eight repeat winners, only Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati and Bill Walton of UCLA have been named the player of the year three times.

UCLA and Duke have the most all-time awards, each with seven. North Carolina has the second-most awards with five.

Key

Player (X)

Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the player of the year award at that point

Winners

George Mikan, DePaul, 1945

Bob Kurland, Oklahoma State, 1946

Paul Arizin, Villanova, 1950

Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati, 1958 through 1960

Art Heyman, Duke, 1963

Sidney Wicks, UCLA, 1971

Bill Walton, UCLA, 1972 through 1974

David Thompson, NC State, 1975

Ralph Sampson, Virginia, 1982

Michael Jordan, North Carolina, 1983 and 1984

Larry Johnson, UNLV, 1991

Christian Laettner, Duke, 1992

Antawn Jamison, North Carolina, 1998

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, 2009

Luka Garza, Iowa, 2020 and 2021

Johni Broome, Auburn, 2025

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1942–43	Andy Phillip	Illinois	G / F	Senior	[3]
1943–44	Dale Hall	Army	F	Junior	[4]
1944–45	George Mikan	DePaul	C	Junior	[5]
1945–46	Bob Kurland	Oklahoma State	C	Senior	[6]
1947–49	No winners selected
1949–50	Paul Arizin	Villanova	F	Senior	[7]
1950–51	Sherman White	LIU[a]	F	Senior	[8]
1952–57	No winners selected
1957–58	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati	PG	Sophomore	[9]
1958–59	Oscar Robertson (2)	Cincinnati	PG	Junior	[10]
1959–60	Oscar Robertson (3)	Cincinnati	PG	Senior	[11]
1960–61	Jerry Lucas	Ohio State	F / C	Junior	[12]
1961–62	Jerry Lucas (2)	Ohio State	F / C	Senior	[13]
1962–63	Art Heyman	Duke	G / F	Senior	[14]
1963–64	Bill Bradley	Princeton	SF / SG	Junior	[15]
1964–65	Bill Bradley (2)	Princeton	SF / SG	Senior	[16]
1965–66	Cazzie Russell	Michigan	SG	Senior	[17]
1966–67	Lew Alcindor[b]	UCLA	C	Sophomore	[18]
1967–68	Elvin Hayes	Houston	F / C	Senior	[19]
1968–69	Lew Alcindor[b] (2)	UCLA	C	Senior	[20]
1969–70	Pete Maravich	LSU	PG	Senior	[21]
1970–71	Sidney Wicks	UCLA	PF	Senior	[22]
1971–72	Bill Walton	UCLA	C	Sophomore	[23]
1972–73	Bill Walton (2)	UCLA	C	Junior	[23]
1973–74	Bill Walton (3)	UCLA	C	Senior	[23]
1974–75	David Thompson	NC State	SG / SF	Senior	[24]
1975–76	Scott May	Indiana	SF	Senior	[25]
1976–77	Marques Johnson	UCLA	G / F	Senior	[26]
1977–78	Phil Ford	North Carolina	PG	Senior	[27]
1978–79	Larry Bird	Indiana State	SF	Senior	[28]
1979–80	Darrell Griffith	Louisville	SG	Senior	[29]
1980–81	Mark Aguirre	DePaul	SF	Junior	[30]
1981–82	Ralph Sampson	Virginia	C	Junior	[31]
1982–83	Michael Jordan	North Carolina	SG	Sophomore	[32]
1983–84	Michael Jordan (2)	North Carolina	SG	Junior	[33]
1984–85	Patrick Ewing	Georgetown	C	Senior	[34]
1985–86	Walter Berry	St. John's	PF	Senior	[35]
1986–87	David Robinson	Navy	C	Senior	[36]
1987–88	Hersey Hawkins	Bradley	SG	Senior	[37]
1988–89	Stacey King	Oklahoma	C	Senior	[38]
1989–90	Dennis Scott	Georgia Tech	SF	Junior	[39]
1990–91	Larry Johnson	UNLV	PF	Senior	[40]
1991–92	Christian Laettner	Duke	PF / C	Senior	[41]
1992–93	Calbert Cheaney	Indiana	SF	Senior	[42]
1993–94	Glenn Robinson	Purdue	SF	Junior	[43]
1994–95	Shawn Respert	Michigan State	SG	Senior	[44]
1995–96	Marcus Camby	UMass	C	Junior	[45]
1996–97	Tim Duncan	Wake Forest	C	Senior	[46]
1997–98	Antawn Jamison	North Carolina	SF	Junior	[47]
1998–99	Elton Brand	Duke	C	Sophomore	[48]
1999–00	Kenyon Martin	Cincinnati	PF	Senior	[49]
2000–01	Shane Battier	Duke	SF / SG	Senior	[50]
2001–02	Jason Williams	Duke	PG	Junior	[51]
2002–03	T. J. Ford	Texas	PG	Sophomore	[52]
2003–04	Jameer Nelson	Saint Joseph's	PG	Senior	[53]
2004–05	Dee Brown	Illinois	PG	Junior	[54]
2005–06	JJ Redick	Duke	SG	Senior	[55]
2006–07	Kevin Durant	Texas	SF	Freshman	[56]
2007–08	Tyler Hansbrough	North Carolina	PF	Junior	[57]
2008–09	Blake Griffin	Oklahoma	PF	Sophomore	[58]
2009–10	Evan Turner	Ohio State	SF	Junior	[59]
2010–11	Jimmer Fredette	BYU	PG	Senior	[60]
2011–12	Anthony Davis	Kentucky	C	Freshman	[61]
2012–13	Victor Oladipo	Indiana	G	Junior	[62]
2013–14	Doug McDermott	Creighton	SF	Senior	[63]
2014–15	Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin	PF	Senior	[64]
2015–16	Buddy Hield	Oklahoma	SG	Senior	[65]
2016–17	Frank Mason III	Kansas	PG	Senior	[66]
2017–18	Jalen Brunson	Villanova	PG	Junior	[67]
2018–19	Zion Williamson	Duke	PF	Freshman	[68]
2019–20	Luka Garza	Iowa	C	Junior	[69]
2020–21	Luka Garza (2)	Iowa	C	Senior	[70]
2021–22	Oscar Tshiebwe	Kentucky	PF / C	Junior	[71]
2022–23	Zach Edey	Purdue	C	Junior	[72]
2023–24	Zach Edey (2)	Purdue	C	Senior	[73]
2024–25	Johni Broome	Auburn	PF / C	Senior	[74]

• ^a At the time of White's award, Long Island University consisted solely of what is now the institution's Brooklyn campus. In 2019, LIU merged the Brooklyn athletic program with the NCAA Division II program of its Post campus, creating a new D-I program that competes as the LIU Sharks. The Sharks inherited the men's basketball history of the Brooklyn campus.^[75]
• ^b Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 after converting to Islam.^[76]

See also

• List of U.S. men's college basketball national player of the year awards