Naismith Player of the Year

List of Naismith Player of the Year winners

Every year since 1969, the Atlanta Tipoff Club has presented the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award (or simply Naismith Player of the Year Award) to recognize the top men’s college basketball player of the season. A women’s award was added in 1983. Both awards are named after Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball who later became the first head coach at Kansas. Two men have won the award three times each: UCLA‘s Bill Walton (1972-74) and Virginia‘s Ralph Sampson (1981-83). Duke is the program with the most winners (eight), followed by UCLA (five), Virginia and North Carolina (three each). See also: Naismith Coach of the Year

Year Player School
1969 Lew Alcindor UCLA
1970 Pete Maravich LSU
1971 Austin Carr Notre Dame
1972 Bill Walton UCLA (2)
1973 Bill Walton (2) UCLA (3)
1974 Bill Walton (3) UCLA (4)
1975 David Thompson NC State
1976 Scott May Indiana
1977 Marques Johnson UCLA (5)
1978 Butch Lee Marquette
1979 Larry Bird Indiana State
1980 Mark Aguirre DePaul
1981 Ralph Sampson Virginia
1982 Ralph Sampson (2) Virginia (2)
1983 Ralph Sampson (3) Virginia (3)
1984 Michael Jordan North Carolina
1985 Patrick Ewing Georgetown
1986 Johnny Dawkins Duke
1987 David Robinson Navy
1988 Danny Manning Kansas
1989 Danny Ferry Duke (2)
1990 Lionel Simmons La Salle
1991 Larry Johnson UNLV
1992 Christian Laettner Duke (3)
1993 Calbert Cheaney Indiana (2)
1994 Glenn Robinson Purdue
1995 Joe Smith Maryland
1996 Marcus Camby UMass
1997 Tim Duncan Wake Forest
1998 Antawn Jamison North Carolina (2)
1999 Elton Brand Duke (4)
2000 Kenyon Martin Cincinnati
2001 Shane Battier Duke (5)
2002 Jay Williams Duke (6)
2003 T. J. Ford Texas
2004 Jameer Nelson Saint Joseph’s
2005 Andrew Bogut Utah
2006 JJ Redick Duke (7)
2007 Kevin Durant Texas (2)
2008 Tyler Hansbrough North Carolina (3)
2009 Blake Griffin Oklahoma
2010 Evan Turner Ohio State
2011 Jimmer Fredette BYU
2012 Anthony Davis Kentucky
2013 Trey Burke Michigan
2014 Doug McDermott Creighton
2015 Frank Kaminsky Wisconsin
2016 Buddy Hield Oklahoma (2)
2017 Frank Mason III Kansas (2)
2018 Jalen Brunson Villanova
2019 Zion Williamson Duke (8)
2020 Obi Toppin Dayton
2021 Luka Garza Iowa
2022 Oscar Tshiebwe Kentucky (2)
2023 Zach Edey Purdue (2)
2024

< Naismith Player of the Year >

<< Awards & Championships >>