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.

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.

Duke have the most all-time awards with eight. UCLA has the second-most awards with seven.

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

Winners

Season Player School Position Class Reference 1942–43 Illinois G / F 1943–44 Army F 1944–45 C 1945–46 Oklahoma State C 1947–49 1949–50 F 1950–51 F 1952–57 1957–58 Cincinnati PG 1958–59 (2) Cincinnati PG 1959–60 (3) Cincinnati PG 1960–61 Ohio State F / C 1961–62 (2) Ohio State F / C 1962–63 Duke G / F 1963–64 Princeton SF / SG 1964–65 (2) Princeton SF / SG 1965–66 Michigan SG 1966–67 UCLA C 1967–68 Houston F / C 1968–69 (2) UCLA C 1969–70 LSU PG 1970–71 UCLA PF 1971–72 UCLA C 1972–73 (2) UCLA C 1973–74 (3) UCLA C 1974–75 SG / SF 1975–76 Indiana SF 1976–77 UCLA G / F 1977–78 North Carolina PG 1978–79 Indiana State SF 1979–80 Louisville SG 1980–81 DePaul SF 1981–82 Virginia C 1982–83 North Carolina SG 1983–84 (2) North Carolina SG 1984–85 Georgetown C 1985–86 St. John's PF 1986–87 Navy C 1987–88 Bradley SG 1988–89 Oklahoma C 1989–90 Georgia Tech SF 1990–91 UNLV PF 1991–92 Duke PF / C 1992–93 Indiana SF 1993–94 Purdue SF 1994–95 Michigan State SG 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 Texas PG 2003–04 Saint Joseph's PG 2004–05 Illinois PG 2005–06 Duke SG 2006–07 Texas SF 2007–08 North Carolina PF 2008–09 Oklahoma PF 2009–10 Ohio State SF 2010–11 BYU PG 2011–12 Kentucky C 2012–13 Indiana G 2013–14 Creighton SF 2014–15 Wisconsin PF 2015–16 Oklahoma SG 2016–17 Kansas PG 2017–18 Villanova PG 2018–19 Duke PF 2019–20 Iowa C 2020–21 (2) Iowa C 2021–22 Kentucky PF / C 2022–23 Purdue C 2023–24 (2) Purdue C 2024–25 Auburn PF / C 2025–26 Duke PF 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. Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 after converting to Islam.

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

References