The AP College Basketball Player of the Year is an award given by the Associated Press (AP) that recognizes the best men's and women's college basketball players of the year in the United States. The men's award began in 1961 while the women's began in 1995. The AP Player of the Year is one of the major national player of the year awards.

According to APNews.com, "Voting is done at the conclusion of the regular season and before the NCAA tournament starts. Voting is based on regular season performance. The men's panel is made up of 62 media members who regularly cover college basketball and vote in The Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll. The women's panel consists of 35 media members. The voting panel includes local beat writers at newspapers and broadcast outlets, along with national media."

There have only been two total players, one on each of the men's and women's sides, to be named the AP Player of the Year three times: Ralph Sampson of Virginia (1981–1983), and Breanna Stewart of UConn (2014–2016).

Key Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the AP Player of the Year at that point

Winners

+ Men Season Player School Position Class Reference 1960–61 Ohio State F / C 1961–62 (2) Ohio State F / C 1962–63 Duke G / F 1963–64 F 1964–65 Princeton SF / SG 1965–66 Michigan SG 1966–67 UCLA C 1967–68 Houston C 1968–69 UCLA C 1969–70 LSU PG 1970–71 Notre Dame SG 1971–72 UCLA C 1972–73 (2) UCLA C 1973–74 NC State SG / SF 1974–75 (2) SG / SF 1975–76 Indiana SF 1976–77 UCLA G / F 1977–78 Marquette PG 1978–79 Indiana State SF 1979–80 DePaul SF 1980–81 Virginia C 1981–82 (2) Virginia C 1982–83 (3) Virginia C 1983–84 North Carolina SG 1984–85 Georgetown C 1985–86 St. John's PF 1986–87 Navy C 1987–88 Bradley SG 1988–89 Arizona SF 1989–90 La Salle SF 1990–91 LSU C 1991–92 Duke PF / C 1992–93 Indiana SF 1993–94 Purdue SF 1994–95 Maryland PF 1995–96 UMass C 1996–97 Wake Forest C 1997–98 North Carolina SF 1998–99 Duke C 1999–00 Cincinnati PF 2000–01 Duke SF / SG 2001–02 Duke PG 2002–03 Xavier PF 2003–04 Saint Joseph's PG 2004–05 Utah C 2005–06 Duke SG 2006–07 Texas SF 2007–08 North Carolina PF 2008–09 Oklahoma PF 2009–10 Ohio State SG 2010–11 BYU SG 2011–12 Kentucky C 2012–13 Michigan PG 2013–14 Creighton SF 2014–15 Wisconsin PF 2015–16 Michigan State SG 2016–17 Kansas PG 2017–18 Villanova PG 2018–19 Duke PF 2019–20 Dayton PF 2020–21 Iowa C 2021–22 Kentucky C 2022–23 Purdue C 2023–24 (2) Purdue C 2024–25 Duke SG / SF 2025–26 Duke PF + Women Season Player School Position Class Reference 1960–61 No award 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 UConn C 1995–96 UConn PG 1996–97 C 1997–98 Tennessee SF 1998–99 (2) SF 1999–00 Tennessee SF 2000–01 Notre Dame C 2001–02 UConn PG 2002–03 UConn PG / SG 2003–04 SG / SF 2004–05 LSU SG / SF 2005–06 (2) LSU SG / SF 2006–07 C 2007–08 Tennessee PF 2008–09 UConn PF 2009–10 UConn C 2010–11 (2) UConn PF 2011–12 Baylor C 2012–13 (2) Baylor C 2013–14 UConn PF 2014–15 (2) UConn PF 2015–16 (3) UConn PF 2016–17 Washington PG 2017–18 South Carolina C 2018–19 Iowa C 2019–20 Oregon PG 2020–21 UConn PG 2021–22 South Carolina PF / C 2022–23 Iowa PG 2023–24 (2) Iowa PG 2024–25 USC SG 2025–26 UConn PF Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 after converting to Islam.

See also AP College Basketball Coach of the Year List of U.S. men's college basketball national player of the year awards

References