The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the most outstanding NCAA Division I men's basketball player by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), first presented in 1959. It is one of the oldest national player of the year awards in college basketball, behind only The Sporting News award (1943), the Helms award (1944), and the UPI award (1955). The original name was the USBWA College Player of the Year, but the men's player of the year award has been called the Oscar Robertson Trophy since 1998. It was renamed to honor the college and professional legend, and first-ever recipient, Oscar Robertson. Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the award during the NCAA tournament.
Key † Co-Players of the Year Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Oscar Robertson Trophy at that point
Winners
Season Player School Position Class Reference 1958–59 Cincinnati PG 1959–60 (2) Cincinnati PG 1960–61 Ohio State F / C 1961–62 (2) Ohio State F / C 1962–63 Duke G / F 1963–64 UCLA SG / PG 1964–65 Princeton SF / SG 1965–66 Michigan SG 1966–67 UCLA C 1967–68 (2) UCLA C 1968–69 LSU PG 1969–70 (2) 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 Notre Dame SF 1976–77 UCLA G / F 1977–78 North Carolina 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 St. John's SF / SG 1985–86 St. John's PF 1986–87 Navy C 1987–88 Bradley SG 1988–89 Duke PF / C 1989–90 La Salle SF 1990–91 UNLV PF 1991–92 Duke PF / C 1992–93 Indiana SF 1993–94 Purdue SF 1994–95 UCLA 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† Gonzaga SF 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 Oklahoma 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 The Helms Foundation Player of the Year was first presented in 1944, when the Helms Athletic Foundation announced organization founder Bill Schroeder's player of the year selection for the 1943–44 season as well as his retroactive picks for each season from 1904–05 to 1942–43. Since all awards from 1905 through 1943 were retroactive, the Oscar Robertson Trophy is only 15 years behind it as a major national player of the year award, not 54 years. 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 USBWA National Freshman of the Year USBWA Women's National Player of the Year USBWA Most Courageous Award – presented to figures associated with college basketball who have "demonstrated extraordinary courage reflecting honor on the sport of amateur basketball"
References