List of NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP) winners

Each year since the start of the NCAA Tournament in 1939, the Associated Press (AP) has named one player from the Division I men’s tournament as the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). The AP has also awarded a MOP title on the women’s side, starting with the first women’s tournament in 1982. UCLA is the program with the most men’s winners (nine), followed by Kentucky (seven), Duke, Kansas (six each), North Carolina and Connecticut (five each). UCLA‘s Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) is the only player to win three times, while four others have won it twice.

The award is usually given to a member of the title-winning team, as has been the case every year since 1984. However, there are 12 instances – notated with a (*) below – in which the MOP’s team did not win the title. See also: NCAA Champions/Final Four Teams.

Year	Player	School
1939*	Jimmy Hull	Ohio State
1940	Marvin Huffman	Indiana
1941	John Kotz	Wisconsin
1942	Howie Dallmar	Stanford
1943	Ken Sailors	Wyoming
1944	Arnie Ferrin	Utah
1945	Bob Kurland	Oklahoma A&M
1946	Bob Kurland (2)	Oklahoma A&M (2)
1947	George Kaftan	Holy Cross
1948	Alex Groza	Kentucky
1949	Alex Groza (2)	Kentucky (2)
1950	Irwin Dambrot	CCNY
1951	Bill Spivey	Kentucky (3)
1952	Clyde Lovellette	Kansas
1953*	B. H. Born	Kansas (2)
1954	Tom Gola	La Salle
1955	Bill Russell	San Francisco
1956*	Hal Lear	Temple
1957*	Wilt Chamberlain	Kansas (3)
1958*	Elgin Baylor	Seattle
1959*	Jerry West	West Virginia
1960	Jerry Lucas	Ohio State (2)
1961*	Jerry Lucas (2)	Ohio State (3)
1962*	Paul Hogue	Cincinnati
1963*	Art Heyman	Duke
1964	Walt Hazzard	UCLA
1965*	Bill Bradley	Princeton
1966*	Jerry Chambers	Utah (2)
1967	Lew Alcindor	UCLA (2)
1968	Lew Alcindor (2)	UCLA (3)
1969	Lew Alcindor (3)	UCLA (4)
1970	Sidney Wicks	UCLA (5)
1971^	vacated
1972	Bill Walton	UCLA (6)
1973	Bill Walton (2)	UCLA (7)
1974	David Thompson	NC State
1975	Richard Washington	UCLA (8)
1976	Kent Benson	Indiana (2)
1977	Butch Lee	Marquette
1978	Jack Givens	Kentucky (4)
1979	Earvin “Magic” Johnson	Michigan State
1980	Darrell Griffith	Louisville
1981	Isiah Thomas	Indiana (3)
1982	James Worthy	North Carolina
1983*	Akeem Olajuwon	Houston
1984	Patrick Ewing	Georgetown
1985	Ed Pinckney	Villanova
1986	Pervis Ellison	Louisville (2)
1987	Keith Smart	Indiana (4)
1988	Danny Manning	Kansas (4)
1989	Glen Rice	Michigan
1990	Anderson Hunt	UNLV
1991	Christian Laettner	Duke (2)
1992	Bobby Hurley	Duke (3)
1993	Donald Williams	North Carolina (2)
1994	Corliss Williamson	Arkansas
1995	Ed O’Bannon	UCLA (9)
1996	Tony Delk	Kentucky (5)
1997	Miles Simon	Arizona
1998	Jeff Sheppard	Kentucky (6)
1999	Richard Hamilton	Connecticut
2000	Mateen Cleaves	Michigan State (2)
2001	Shane Battier	Duke (4)
2002	Juan Dixon	Maryland
2003	Carmelo Anthony	Syracuse
2004	Emeka Okafor	Connecticut (2)
2005	Sean May	North Carolina (3)
2006	Joakim Noah	Florida
2007	Corey Brewer	Florida (2)
2008	Mario Chalmers	Kansas (5)
2009	Wayne Ellington	North Carolina (4)
2010	Kyle Singler	Duke (5)
2011	Kemba Walker	Connecticut (3)
2012	Anthony Davis	Kentucky (7)
2013	Luke Hancock	Louisville (3)
2014	Shabazz Napier	Connecticut (4)
2015	Tyus Jones	Duke (6)
2016	Ryan Arcidiacono	Villanova (2)
2017	Joel Berry II	North Carolina (5)
2018	Donte DiVincenzo	Villanova (3)
2019	Kyle Guy	Virginia
2020	tournament cancelled
2021	Jared Butler	Baylor
2022	Ochai Agbaji	Kansas (6)
2023	Adama Sanogo	Connecticut (5)
2024

^ The 1971 award was given to Villanova‘s Howard Porter, but was vacated when Porter was found to have been ineligible

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