The Great West Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year was an annual award given to the Great West Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 2009–10 season, the conference's first as a member of NCAA Division I. The Great West was formed on February 25, 2004 as a football-only conference comprising seven schools. On July 10, 2008 it was announced that the Great West would change into an all-sports conference. In 2008–09, the ensuing school year, competition began in a limited number of other sports such as track and field, cross country, and golf. Due to massive conference-switching by dozens of Division I schools during the 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment, the Great West Conference officially disbanded on July 1, 2013, after all but New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) departed.
Tyler Cain, a senior power forward from the University of South Dakota, was the first-ever player of the year in 2010. NJIT led all schools with two winners in the award's brief, four-year history.
Winners Season Player School Position Class Reference 2009–10 South Dakota PF 2010–11 PG 2011–12 SF / SG 2012–13 NJIT PG / SG
Winners by school
School (year joined) Winners Years NJIT (2008) 2 2012, 2013 South Dakota (2008) 1 2010 Utah Valley (2008) 1 2011 Chicago State (2008) 0 — Houston Christian (2008) 0 — North Dakota (2008) 0 — UT Rio Grande Valley (2008) 0 — South Dakota joined the Summit League in 2011–12. North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference in 2012–13.
References