Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Western Athletic Conference's (WAC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1980–81 season. Keith Van Horn of Utah and Nick Fazekas of Nevada are the only players to have won the award three times. Three other players—Michael Cage, Josh Grant and Melvin Ely—have won the award twice. Danny Ainge, the first ever WAC Player of the Year, was also the John R. Wooden Award winner in 1980–81.

WAC Men's Basketball
Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding basketball player in the Western Athletic Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	1981
Most recent	Dominick Nelson, Utah Valley

Utah has the most all-time winners with seven. There have been four ties in the award's history, most notably in 1982–83 when there was a three-way tie. Due mainly to major membership turnover from 2010 to 2014 and further turnover in the early 2020s, only two current WAC members (California Baptist and Utah Valley) have had a winner.

In 2026, the WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC), which will expand from a football-only alliance between the WAC and Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) to a multi-sports league. Three pf the current seven WAC members will transfer to the UAC: Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington. The rest of the UAC all-sports membership will come from the ASUN.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national player of the year award: UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present)
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the WAC Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Danny Ainge, BYU, 1981

Michael Cage, San Diego State, 1983 and 1984

Michael Smith, BYU, 1988

Tim Hardaway, UTEP, 1989

Keith Van Horn, Utah, 1995 through 1997

Anthony Carter, Hawaii, 1997

Andre Miller, Utah, 1999

Quinton Ross, SMU, 2003

Kirk Snyder, Nevada, 2004

Nick Fazekas, Nevada, 2005 through 2007

Jaycee Carroll, Utah State, 2008

Gary Wilkinson, Utah State, 2009

Luke Babbitt, Nevada, 2010

Kyle Barone, Idaho, 2013

Daniel Mullings, New Mexico State, 2014

Pascal Siakam, New Mexico State, 2016

Jemerrio Jones, New Mexico State, 2018

Jake Toolson, Utah Valley, 2019

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1980–81	Danny Ainge*	BYU	SG	Senior	[1]
1981–82	Bill Garnett	Wyoming	SF	Senior	[2]
1982–83†	Michael Cage	San Diego State	C	Junior	[3]
	Devin Durrant	BYU	SF	Junior	[3]
	Pace Mannion	Utah	SG	Senior	[3]
1983–84	Michael Cage (2)	San Diego State	C	Senior	[4]
1984–85	Timo Saarelainen	BYU	SF	Senior	[5]
1985–86	Anthony Watson	San Diego State	F	Senior	[6]
1986–87	Fennis Dembo	Wyoming	SF	Senior	[7]
1987–88	Michael Smith	BYU	SF	Junior	[8]
1988–89	Tim Hardaway	UTEP	PG	Senior	[9]
1989–90	Mike Mitchell	Colorado State	F	Senior	[10]
1990–91	Josh Grant	Utah	PF	Junior	[11]
1991–92	Reggie Slater	Wyoming	F	Senior	[12]
1992–93	Josh Grant (2)	Utah	PF	Senior	[13]
1993–94	Greg Brown	New Mexico	PG	Senior	[14]
1994–95	Keith Van Horn	Utah	SG / SF	Sophomore	[15]
1995–96	Keith Van Horn (2)	Utah	SG / SF	Junior	[15]
1996–97†	Anthony Carter	Hawaii	PG	Junior	[15]
	Keith Van Horn (3)	Utah	SG / SF	Senior	[15]
1997–98†	Lee Nailon	TCU	PF	Junior	[16]
	Clayton Shields	New Mexico	SG / SF	Senior	[16]
1998–99†	Andre Miller	Utah	PG	Senior	[17]
	Jeryl Sasser	SMU	SG	Sophomore	[17]
1999–00	Courtney Alexander	Fresno State	SG	Senior	[18]
2000–01	Melvin Ely	Fresno State	C	Junior	[19]
2001–02	Melvin Ely (2)	Fresno State	C	Senior	[19]
2002–03	Quinton Ross	SMU	PF	Senior	[20]
2003–04	Kirk Snyder	Nevada	SG / SF	Junior	[21]
2004–05	Nick Fazekas	Nevada	PF / C	Sophomore	[22]
2005–06	Nick Fazekas (2)	Nevada	PF / C	Junior	[22]
2006–07	Nick Fazekas (3)	Nevada	PF / C	Senior	[22]
2007–08	Jaycee Carroll	Utah State	SG	Senior	[23]
2008–09	Gary Wilkinson	Utah State	F	Senior	[24]
2009–10	Luke Babbitt	Nevada	PF	Sophomore	[25]
2010–11	Tai Wesley	Utah State	PF	Senior	[26]
2011–12	Deonte Burton	Nevada	PG	Sophomore	[27]
2012–13	Kyle Barone	Idaho	C	Senior	[28]
2013–14	Daniel Mullings	New Mexico State	SG	Junior	[29]
2014–15	Martez Harrison	Kansas City	SG / PG	Sophomore	[30]
2015–16	Pascal Siakam	New Mexico State	PF	Sophomore	[31]
2016–17	Ian Baker	New Mexico State	PG	Senior	[32]
2017–18	Jemerrio Jones	New Mexico State	PF	Senior	[33]
2018–19	Jake Toolson	Utah Valley	SG	Junior	[34]
2019–20	Milan Acquaah	California Baptist	SG	Junior	[35]
2020–21	Fardaws Aimaq	Utah Valley	C	Sophomore	[36]
2021–22	Teddy Allen	New Mexico State	SG	Junior	[37]
2022–23	Qua Grant	Sam Houston	PG	Senior	[38]
2023–24	Tyon Grant-Foster	Grand Canyon	SG	Graduate	[39]
2024–25	Dominick Nelson	Utah Valley	PG	Junior	[40]

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Utah (1962)[a]	7	1983†, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997†, 1999†
Nevada (2000)[b]	6	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012
New Mexico State (2005)[c]	5	2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022
BYU (1962transfer to the )[a]	4	1981, 1983†, 1985, 1988
Fresno State (1992)[b]	3	2000, 2001, 2002
San Diego State (1978)[a]	3	1983†, 1984, 1986
Utah State (2005)[d]	3	2008, 2009, 2011
Utah Valley (2013)[e]	3	2019, 2021, 2025
Wyoming (1962)[a]	3	1982, 1987, 1992
New Mexico (1962)[a]	2	1994, 1998†
SMU (1996)[f]	2	1999†, 2003
California Baptist (2018)[e]	1	2020
Colorado State (1967)[a]	1	1990
Grand Canyon (2013)[g]	1	2024
Hawaiʻi (1979)[h]	1	1997
Idaho (2005)[i]	1	2013
Kansas City (2013)[j]	1	2015
Sam Houston (2021)[c]	1	2023
TCU (1996)[k]	1	1998†
UTEP (1967)[f]	1	1989
Abilene Christian (2021)[l]	0	—
Boise State (2001)[m]	0	—
Chicago State (2013)[n]	0	—
CSU Bakersfield (2013)[o]	0	—
Denver (2012)[d]	0	—
Lamar (2021)[p]	0	—
Louisiana Tech (2001)[d]	0	—
San Jose State (1996)[d]	0	—
Seattle (2012)[q]	0	—
Southern Utah (2022)[r]	0	—
Stephen F. Austin (2021)[s]	0	—
Tarleton State (2020)[l]	0	—
Texas State (2012)[d]	0	—
UT Arlington (2012/2022)[d]	0	—
Utah Tech[t] (2020)[r]	0	—
UTRGV (2013)[u][v]	0	—
UTSA (2012)[d]	0	—

1. BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming all left in 1999 to become charter members of the Mountain West Conference (MW). Of these schools:

   • BYU and Utah are now in the Big 12 Conference.
   • Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, and Wyoming remain in the MW. Colorado State and San Diego State will leave the MW for the Pac-12 Conference in 2026.
2. Nevada and Fresno State left for the MW in 2012. Fresno State will leave the MW for the Pac-12 in 2026.
3. New Mexico State and Sam Houston left for Conference USA in 2023.
4. Seven schools left the WAC for other conferences in 2013:

   • Denver joined The Summit League after only one year in the WAC.
   • Louisiana Tech and UTSA joined Conference USA (CUSA), the latter after spending only one year in the WAC.
   • San Jose State and Utah State joined the MW. Utah State will leave the MW for the Pac-12 in 2026.
   • Texas State and UT Arlington joined the Sun Belt after only one year in the WAC.
     • UT Arlington rejoined the WAC in 2022, and its WAC membership will transfer to the United Athletic Conference (UAC) in 2026.
5. California Baptist and Utah Valley will join the Big West Conference in 2026.
6. SMU and UTEP both left in 2005 to join CUSA. SMU joined the American Athletic Conference (now the American Conference) in 2013 and moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024. UTEP remains in CUSA, but will join the MW in 2026.
7. Grand Canyon joined the MW in 2025.
8. Hawaiʻi left for the Big West in 2012, and will join its football team in the MW in 2026.
9. Idaho left the WAC in 2014 for the Big Sky.
10. The University of Missouri–Kansas City, which left the WAC after the 2019–20 season to rejoin its former conference home of the Summit League, changed its athletic brand to "Kansas City" after the 2018–19 season.
11. TCU left in 2001 for CUSA. It is now in the Big 12.
12. The WAC memberships of Abilene Christian and Tarleton State will transfer to the UAC in 2026.
13. Boise State left in 2011 for the MW, and will move to the Pac-12 in 2026.
14. Chicago State left the WAC in 2022, becoming a Division I independent. It joined the Northeast Conference in 2024.
15. CSU Bakersfield, now in the process of an athletic rebranding as Bakersfield, left for the Big West in 2020.
16. Lamar left the WAC in 2022 after only one season, returning to its previous home of the Southland Conference (SLC).
17. Seattle will rejoin the West Coast Conference in 2025.
18. Southern Utah and Utah Tech will join the Big Sky Conference in 2026.
19. Stephen F. Austin returned to its previous home of the SLC in 2024.
20. Known as Dixie State before the 2022–23 season.
21. UTRGV left the WAC for the SLC after the 2023–24 season.
22. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) entered into full operation in 2015 with the merger of the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA), which had joined the WAC in 2013, and the University of Texas at Brownsville. Because UTRGV directly inherited the UTPA athletic program. it is credited with all UTPA historic records, and maintains UTPA's WAC membership.