ST. LOUIS (USBWA) The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Michigan sophomore guard Trey Burke as the winner of the 2012-13 Oscar Robertson Trophy presented by Aflac, annually presented to the National Player of the Year. The announcement was made at a news conference today at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, site of the NCAA Men's Final Four.
Burke will be officially presented the Oscar Robertson Trophy by its namesake, the legendary Oscar Robertson, on Mon., April 15 at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards gala at National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
The 6-0, 190-pounder from Columbus, Ohio, becomes the second USBWA national player of the year from Michigan and the seventh from a Big Ten Conference school. Cazzie Russell was the 1966 USBWA National Player of the Year. Burke is just the ninth sophomore to win the award, but the first second-year guard to be so honored.
A first-team USBWA All-American and the USBWA District V Player of the Year, Burke was chosen as the national player of the year from a field of 14 finalists, based on regular-season performance.
The Big Ten Player of the Year led the Wolverines (30-7) to a 16-0 start, a number one national ranking (Jan. 28) and the school's first Final Four appearance since 1993. Burke leads the team in scoring (18.8 ppg) and assists (6.8 apg) while also grabbing 3.1 rebounds per game. He also is shooting 80.8 percent from the free-throw line. Michigan has committed the fewest turnovers per game (9.4) of any team in the country.
Burke has started all 37 games this season and has scored in double figures in each contest as the Wolverines have been ranked among the nation's top ten for the entire season. Three times, Burke was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and, for the week ending Jan. 6, he was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the USBWA.
In the NCAA Tournament, after being held scoreless in the first half of the South Regional semifinal vs. top-seeded Kansas, Burke scored 23 points after halftime, including a dramatic 30-foot three-pointer with four seconds left in regulation that sent the game to overtime. After Michigan defeated the Jayhawks in the extra session, the Wolverines disposed of Florida two days later behind a 15-point, 8-assist, 7-rebound effort effort from Burke to advance to Atlanta. To date, Michigan has not lost a non-conference game (17-0) this season.
The Oscar Robertson Trophy is voted on by the entire membership of the association, which consists of more than 900 journalists. It is the nations oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA's first player of the year in 1959 and was the consensus national player of the year as a sophomore in 1958, the year before USBWA started giving its player of the year award. The USBWA renamed the award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.
Tickets and sponsorship information for the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards are available at collegebasketballawards.com or by contacting Scott Hill (405-749-1515, scott.hill@access-sports.net). The April 15 banquet will also honor Miami (Fla.) coach Jim Larranaga with the Henry Iba Award as the national coach of the year, Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart with the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award as the national freshman of the year and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo as the recipient of the Wayman Tisdale Humanitarian Award.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Today, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-795-6821.
USBWA Players of the Year from the Big Ten
1961 Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1962 Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1966 Cazzie Russell, Michigan
1993 Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
1994 Glenn Robinson, Purdue
2010 Evan Turner, Ohio State
USBWA Players of the Year as a sophomore
1967 Lew Alcindor, UCLA (C)
1972 Bill Walton, UCLA (C)
1980 Mark Aguirre, DePaul (F)
1981 Ralph Sampson, Virginia (C)
1994 Glenn Robinson, Purdue (F)
1999 Elton Brand, Duke (C)
2005 Andrew Bogut, Utah (C)
2009 Blake Griffin, Oklahoma (F)
Related links:
Oscar Robertson Trophy
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