UPI College Basketball Player of the Year

The UPI College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual basketball award given to the best men's basketball player in NCAA Division I competition. The award was first given following the 1954–55 season and was discontinued following the 1995–96 season.^[1] It was given by United Press International (UPI), a news agency in the United States that rivaled the Associated Press but began to decline with the advent of television news.^[2]

UPI College Basketball
Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding NCAA Division I men's basketball player
Country	United States
Presented by	United Press International
History
First award	1955
Final award	1996

Five players—Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Lew Alcindor^[a], Bill Walton and Ralph Sampson—won the award multiple times. Among them, only Robertson, Walton, and Sampson were three-time UPI Players of the Year.^[1]

UCLA had the most all-time winners with six. Ohio State was second with four winners, while Cincinnati and Virginia were tied for third with three winners apiece.

Key

Player (X)

Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the UPI Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Tom Gola, La Salle, 1955

Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati, 1958 through 1960

Art Heyman, Duke, 1963

Gary Bradds, Ohio State, 1964

Cazzie Russell, Michigan, 1966

Austin Carr, Notre Dame, 1971

David Thompson, NC State, 1975

Marques Johnson, UCLA, 1977

Danny Ferry, Duke, 1989

Jim Jackson, Ohio State, 1992

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1954–55	Tom Gola	La Salle	F	Senior	[3]
1955–56	Bill Russell	San Francisco	C	Senior	[4]
1956–57	Chet Forte	Columbia	PG	Senior	[5]
1957–58	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati	PG	Sophomore	[6]
1958–59	Oscar Robertson (2)	Cincinnati	PG	Junior	[7]
1959–60	Oscar Robertson (3)	Cincinnati	PG	Senior	[8]
1960–61	Jerry Lucas	Ohio State	F / C	Junior	[9]
1961–62	Jerry Lucas (2)	Ohio State	F / C	Senior	[10]
1962–63	Art Heyman	Duke	G / F	Senior	[11]
1963–64	Gary Bradds	Ohio State	F	Senior	[12]
1964–65	Bill Bradley	Princeton	SF / SG	Senior	[13]
1965–66	Cazzie Russell	Michigan	SG	Senior	[14]
1966–67	Lew Alcindor[a]	UCLA	C	Sophomore	[15]
1967–68	Elvin Hayes	Houston	F / C	Senior	[16]
1968–69	Lew Alcindor[a] (2)	UCLA	C	Senior	[17]
1969–70	Pete Maravich	LSU	G	Senior	[18]
1970–71	Austin Carr	Notre Dame	G	Senior	[19]
1971–72	Bill Walton	UCLA	C	Sophomore	[20]
1972–73	Bill Walton (2)	UCLA	C	Junior	[21]
1973–74	Bill Walton (3)	UCLA	C	Senior	[22]
1974–75	David Thompson	NC State	SG / SF	Senior	[23]
1975–76	Scott May	Indiana	F	Senior	[24]
1976–77	Marques Johnson	UCLA	G / F	Senior	[25]
1977–78	Butch Lee	Marquette	PG	Senior	[26]
1978–79	Larry Bird	Indiana State	SF	Senior	[27]
1979–80	Mark Aguirre	DePaul	SF	Sophomore	[28]
1980–81	Ralph Sampson	Virginia	C	Sophomore	[29]
1981–82	Ralph Sampson (2)	Virginia	C	Junior	[30]
1982–83	Ralph Sampson (3)	Virginia	C	Senior	[31]
1983–84	Michael Jordan	North Carolina	SG	Junior	[32]
1984–85	Chris Mullin	St. John's	SF / SG	Senior	[33]
1985–86	Walter Berry	St. John's	PF	Senior	[34]
1986–87	David Robinson	Navy	C	Senior	[35]
1987–88	Hersey Hawkins	Bradley	SG	Senior	[36]
1988–89	Danny Ferry	Duke	PF / C	Senior	[37]
1989–90	Lionel Simmons	La Salle	SF	Senior	[38]
1990–91	Shaquille O'Neal	LSU	C	Sophomore	[39]
1991–92	Jim Jackson	Ohio State	SG	Junior	[40]
1992–93	Calbert Cheaney	Indiana	SF	Senior	[41]
1993–94	Glenn Robinson	Purdue	SF / PF	Junior	[42]
1994–95	Joe Smith	Maryland	C	Sophomore	[43]
1995–96	Ray Allen	UConn	SG	Junior	[44]

• ^a Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 after converting to Islam.^[45]