The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has announced the finalists for the USBWA's Oscar Robertson Trophy as the men's national player of the year and Buddy Hield of Oklahoma and Iowa State's Georges Niang are both among the prestigious group.
Hield leads the Big 12 in scoring with 25.4 points per game, while Niang checked in second with 19.4 points per contest. Both players are over 2,000 points for their careers, ranking sixth and seventh on the all-time conference scoring list. Hield is the Big 12's career points leader for conference games with 1,158 points, while Niang ranks third with 1,114 points. Niang is a repeat Oscar Robertson finalist from last season.
Voting for the awards is conducted by members of the USBWA. The USBWA is comprised of over 900 sports journalists covering college basketball for newspapers, magazines and websites.
The USBWA player and freshman of the year awards will be presented on April 11 at the College Basketball Awards gala and dinner at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Also presented at the dinner will be the Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award, and the Wayman Tisdale Humanitarian Award presented by Love's Travel Stops and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award for the women's national player of the year.
While these standout players are the leading contenders to be named to the USBWA's All-America Team, all Division I players remain eligible for postseason honors from the USBWA. The association will announce its 2016 All-America Team in mid-March. Ballots for this season's USBWA men's honors were distributed to the entire membership on February 29.
OSCAR ROBERTSON TROPHY FINALISTS
Grayson Allen, Duke
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
Kris Dunn, Providence
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Brice Johnson, North Carolina
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Jakob Poeltl, Utah
Ben Simmons, LSU
Tyler Ulis, Kentucky
Jarrod Uthoff, Iowa
Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
Since the 1958-59 season, the USBWA has named a national player of the year. In 1998, the award was named in honor of the University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. The USBWA has chosen a national freshman of the year since the 1988-89 season.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season.