Oscar Tshiebwe wins NABC National Player of the Year

Oscar Season is truly upon us. Oscar Tshiebwe was named National Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches this morning, his second major POY honor. Earlier this month, Oscar was named Sporting News National Player of the Year. From here, he needs four more honors to be the consensus National POY: AP Player of the Year, the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, and Oscar Robertson Trophy.

Believe it or not, Tshiebwe is the first Kentucky player and the first player from the SEC to earn National Player of the Year honors from the NABC. In 2012, the NABC went with Draymond Green instead of Anthony Davis, the only major POY award Davis did not win. Oscar is the second player coached by John Calipari to win NABC POY, joining Marcus Camby, who won it in 1996 while Calipari was at UMass.

“First of all, I want to thank God for everything that he has done for me and my family,” Tshiebwe said in a release from UK. “I want to also thank my coaches, the UK staff and most importantly my teammates for helping me to get to where I am today. I also want to thank the Big Blue Nation for your support. I’m very grateful for everything. God bless.”

“The things that he’s done haven’t been done for 50 years,” Calipari said. “Let me say this again, the things that he’s done haven’t been done for 50 years. He plays his heart out and finds ways to impact every game. I’m proud of him, and it’s not only on the court. He’s so thankful and faith-based and he’s a joy to coach.”

Tshiebwe was also named the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year by the NABC, the second Kentucky Wildcat to win it along with Davis in 2012.

Oscar-Worthy National POY Resume

Oscar finished the season averaging a team-best 17.4 points and a nation-leading 15.1 rebounds per game. He is the first Division I player to average at least 15.0 points and 15.0 rebounds in a season since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each accomplished the feat in 1979-80. He’s also the first major-conference player to average at least 16.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds in a season since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73. Bob Burrow is the last Wildcat to hit those marks, averaging 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per contest in 1954-55. He also finished the year as the only major conference player who averaged at least 1.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.

Tshiebwe finished with 515 total rebounds this season, pulling down at least 10 boards in all but two games this season. He finished the season with 21 straight games with double-digit rebounds and 16 straight double-doubles to end the year. The 6-foot-9 center totaled 28 double-doubles this year, a new Kentucky single-season record.

Here’s a tally of his honors thus far:

• NABC National Player of the Year
• NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
• NCAA Consensus All-America First Team
• USBWA First-Team All-America
• NABC First-Team All-America
• Associated Press First-Team All-America
• Sporting News First-Team All-America
• NABC All-District 20 First Team
• Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (coaches/media)
• All-SEC First Team (coaches/media)
• All-SEC Defensive Team (coaches)
• USBWA District IV Player of the Year
• USBWA All-District IV team
• USA Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-American
• The Athletic’s National Player of the Year
• Sports Illustrated First-Team All-American
• The Field of 68 National Player of the Year
• The Field of 68 First-Team All-America
• College Hoops Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today SEC Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-SEC unanimous selection