Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the most outstanding men's basketball player in the Summit League (which had been known as the Mid-Continent Conference up until June 1, 2007). The award was first given following the 1982–83 season. Two players, Caleb Green of Oral Roberts and Mike Daum of South Dakota State, have each won the award three times. Five other players have won the award twice: Jon Collins of Eastern Illinois, Tony Bennett of Green Bay, Bryce Drew of Valparaiso, Keith Benson of Oakland, and Max Abmas of Oral Roberts.

Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	most outstanding basketball player in the Summit League
Country	United States
History
First award	1983
Most recent	Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State

Oral Roberts and South Dakota State have the most winners with seven each. Oakland has had three winners, but left after the 2012–13 season to join the Horizon League. Of current conference members, North Dakota, Omaha, St. Thomas, and South Dakota have had no winners. However, all are among the conference's newer members, with South Dakota having joined in 2011, Omaha in 2012, North Dakota in 2018, and St. Thomas in 2021.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national player of the year award: 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 Summit League Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Tony Bennett also won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 1992.

Luboš Bartoň won in 2002 while at Valparaiso.

Two-time winner Oakland's Keith Benson also took home the 2010 Lou Henson Award.

Oral Roberts' Max Abmas won in 2021 after leading the NCAA in scoring. He won the award again two years later.

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1982–83	Joe Dykstra	Western Illinois	SF	Senior	[1]
1983–84	Craig Lathen	UIC	PG	Junior	[2]
1984–85	Jon Collins	Eastern Illinois	SF	Junior	[3]
1985–86	Jon Collins (2)	Eastern Illinois	SF	Senior	[3]
1986–87	Winston Garland	Missouri State	PG	Senior	[4]
1987–88	Ken McFadden	Cleveland State	G	Junior	[5]
1988–89	Jay Taylor	Eastern Illinois	SG	Senior	[6]
1989–90	Lee Campbell	Missouri State	F	Senior	[7]
1990–91	Tony Bennett	Green Bay	PG	Junior	[8]
1991–92	Tony Bennett (2)	Green Bay	PG	Senior	[8]
1992–93	Bill Edwards	Wright State	SF	Senior	[9]
1993–94	Kenny Williams	UIC	PG	Senior	[10]
1994–95	David Redmon	Valparaiso	G	Senior	[11]
1995–96	Anthony Allison	Valparaiso	SF	Senior	[12]
1996–97	Bryce Drew	Valparaiso	PG	Junior	[13]
1997–98	Bryce Drew (2)	Valparaiso	PG	Senior	[14]
1998–99	Chad Wilkerson	Oral Roberts	SF / PF	Junior	[15]
1999–00	Michael Jackson	Kansas City	C	Sophomore	[16]
2000–01	Jeff Monaco	Southern Utah	PG	Senior	[17]
2001–02	Luboš Bartoň	Valparaiso	PF	Senior	[18]
2002–03	Mike Helms	Oakland	G	Junior	[19]
2003–04	Odell Bradley	IUPUI	SF / SG	Sophomore	[20]
2004–05	Caleb Green	Oral Roberts	PF	Sophomore	[21]
2005–06	Caleb Green (2)	Oral Roberts	PF	Junior	[21]
2006–07	Caleb Green (3)	Oral Roberts	PF	Senior	[21]
2007–08	George Hill	IUPUI	PG / SG	Junior	[22]
2008–09	Ben Woodside	North Dakota State	PG	Senior	[23]
2009–10	Keith Benson	Oakland	C	Junior	[24]
2010–11	Keith Benson (2)	Oakland	C	Senior	[24]
2011–12	Dominique Morrison	Oral Roberts	SF	Senior	[25]
2012–13	Nate Wolters	South Dakota State	PG	Senior	[26]
2013–14	Taylor Braun	North Dakota State	PG	Senior	[27]
2014–15	Lawrence Alexander	North Dakota State	SG	Senior	[28]
2015–16	Max Landis	Purdue Fort Wayne	SG	Senior	[29]
2016–17	Mike Daum	South Dakota State	PF	Sophomore	[30]
2017–18	Mike Daum (2)	South Dakota State	PF	Junior	[30]
2018–19	Mike Daum (3)	South Dakota State	PF	Senior	[30]
2019–20	Douglas Wilson	South Dakota State	SF	Junior	[31]
2020–21	Max Abmas	Oral Roberts	PG / SG	Sophomore	[32]
2021–22	Baylor Scheierman	South Dakota State	SG	Junior	[33]
2022–23	Max Abmas (2)	Oral Roberts	PG / SG	Senior	[32]
2023–24	Zeke Mayo	South Dakota State	SG	Junior	[34]

Winners by school

In this table, the "year joined" refers to the calendar year in which each school joined the conference. The "Years" column reflects the calendar years in which each award was presented.

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Oral Roberts (1997, 2014)[lower-alpha 1]	7	1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2021, 2023
South Dakota State (2007)	7	2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024
Valparaiso (1982)[lower-alpha 2]	5	1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002
Eastern Illinois (1982)[lower-alpha 3]	3	1985, 1986, 1989
North Dakota State (2007)	3	2009, 2014, 2015
Oakland (1998)[lower-alpha 4]	3	2003, 2010, 2011
Green Bay (1982)[lower-alpha 5]	2	1991, 1992
IUPUI (1998)[lower-alpha 6]	2	2004, 2008
Missouri State (1982)[lower-alpha 7]	2	1987, 1990
UIC (1982)[lower-alpha 5]	2	1984, 1994
Cleveland State (1982)[lower-alpha 5]	1	1988
Kansas City (1994, 2020)[lower-alpha 8]	1	2000
Purdue Fort Wayne (2007)[lower-alpha 9][lower-alpha 10]	1	2016
Southern Utah (1997)[lower-alpha 11]	1	2001
Western Illinois (1982)[lower-alpha 12]	1	1983
Wright State (1991)[lower-alpha 5]	1	1993
Centenary (2003)[lower-alpha 13]	0	—
Denver (2013)	0	—
North Dakota (2018)	0	—
Omaha (2012)	0	—
St. Thomas (2021)	0	—
South Dakota (2011)	0	—

1. Oral Roberts left in 2012 for the Southland Conference and rejoined The Summit League in 2014.
2. Valparaiso left in 2007 for the Horizon League.
3. Eastern Illinois left in 1996 for the Ohio Valley Conference.
4. Oakland left in 2013 for the Horizon League.
5. Illinois–Chicago (UIC), Wisconsin-Green Bay (Green Bay), Cleveland State, and Wright State left in 1994 for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, now known as the Horizon League.
6. IUPUI left in 2017 for the Horizon League. The program now plays as IU Indy following the 2024 dissolution of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and its replacement by separate institutions affiliated with the Indiana University and Purdue University systems.
7. Missouri State left in 1990 for the Missouri Valley Conference, and will join Conference USA in 2025.
8. Kansas City left in 2013 for the Western Athletic Conference.
9. Purdue Fort Wayne inherited its athletic program from the former Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), which was dissolved after the 2017–18 season with the creation of separate Indiana University and Purdue University-affiliated institutions.
10. Purdue Fort Wayne left in 2020 for the Horizon League.
11. Southern Utah left in 2012 for the Big Sky Conference, and is now in the Western Athletic Conference.
12. Western Illinois left in 2023 for the Ohio Valley Conference.
13. Centenary left in 2011 to begin a transition to NCAA Division III.

References

1. "SMS' Boggs, Ward net AMCU honors". Springfield Leader & Press. Springfield, Missouri. March 20, 1983. p. 53. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Mayes, Warren (March 9, 1984). "Lathen is named MVP; Spoonhour honored". Springfield Leader & Press. Springfield, Missouri. p. 29. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Jon Collins named to all-Rodney team". Journal Gazette. Mattoon, Illinois. March 19, 1986. p. 15. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "3 UNI players honored on AMCU league teams". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. March 6, 1987. p. 12. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "CSU's McFadden honored by league". Akron Beacon Journal. Akron, Ohio. March 10, 1988. p. 38. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Scranton, Lyndal (March 7, 1989). "Eastern's Jay Taylor named player of year". Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. p. 17. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Campbell player of the year". Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. March 6, 1990. p. 15. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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21. Milles, Todd (March 15, 2007). "What doesn't this guy do? Well, a lot". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington. p. C4. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
22. Rabjohns, Jeff (March 7, 2008). "IUPUI's Mr. Everything honored". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. p. D1. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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24. Vandrovec, Terry (March 5, 2011). "Grizzlies on a roll". Argus Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. p. 16. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
25. "All-Summit League Basketball Team". The Kansas City Star. Kansas City, Missouri. March 2, 2012. p. B7. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
26. "No. 13 South Dakota State". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. March 18, 2013. p. N8. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
27. Booth, Tim (March 20, 2014). "Bison boast experience edge". The Bismarck Tribune. Bismarck, North Dakota. p. 23. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
28. "Men's All-Summit League". Rapid City Journal. Rapid City, South Dakota. March 6, 2015. p. 14. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
29. "Perry Meridian grad Landis named Player of the Year". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. March 4, 2016. p. C2. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
30. Zimmer, Matt (March 8, 2019). "Daum, Miller repeat as Summit League MVPs". Argus Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. p. B1. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
31. "Summit League All-Conference Teams". Argus Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. March 6, 2020. p. B2. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
32. Hines, Kelly (March 3, 2023). "Coach, player of year for ORU". Tulsa World. Tulsa, Oklahoma. p. B1. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
33. Zimmer, Matt (March 6, 2022). "South Dakota State dominates". Argus Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. p. D3. Retrieved January 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
34. Bedore, Gary (March 28, 2024). "South Dakota State's Zeke Mayo enters transfer portal". The Kansas City Star. Kansas City, Missouri. p. B2. Retrieved June 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.