Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year was an annual award given to the Big Eight Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1956–57 season and concluded after the 1995–96 season (the Big Eight disbanded and was re-formed into the present day Big 12 Conference). From 1960 through 1967 no award was given out. Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma and Danny Manning of Kansas are the only players to have received the award three times. Manning was also the consensus national player of the year in 1988. Four other players won the award twice, last performed by Doug Smith of Missouri (1990, 1991). Missouri also claimed the most winners with eight, followed by Oklahoma with seven.

Key † Co-Players of the Year* Awarded a national player of the year award that same season: Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79) UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96)Oscar Robertson Trophy (1958–59 to present) 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 Big Eight Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Season Player School Position ClassReference 1956–57 Iowa State G 1957–58 Kansas State F 1958–59 (2) Kansas State F 1959–67 1967–68 Iowa State C / PF 1968–69 Colorado C 1969–70 Kansas C 1970–71 (2) Colorado C 1971–72 Kansas SG 1972–73 Kansas State G 1973–74 (2) Kansas State G 1974–75 Oklahoma C 1975–76 Missouri PG / SG 1976–77 Missouri SF 1977–78 Kansas State SG / PG 1978–79 Oklahoma SG / SF 1979–80 Kansas State SG 1980–81 Nebraska C 1981–82 Missouri SF 1982–83† Missouri C Oklahoma PF 1983–84 (2) Oklahoma PF 1984–85 (3) Oklahoma PF 1985–86 Kansas PF 1986–87 (2) Kansas PF 1987–88 * (3) Kansas PF 1988–89 Oklahoma C/F 1989–90 Missouri F 1990–91† Oklahoma State SF (2) Missouri F 1991–92 Missouri SG 1992–93 Oklahoma State C 1993–94 Missouri PG 1994–95 Oklahoma F 1995–96 Kansas PG

Winners by school

School (year joined) Winners Years Missouri (1907) 8 1976, 1977, 1982, 1983†, 1990, 1991†, 1992, 1994 Oklahoma (1919) 7 1975, 1979, 1983†, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1995 Kansas (1907) 6 1970, 1972, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996 Kansas State (1913) 6 1958, 1959, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980 Colorado (1947) 2 1969, 1971 Iowa State (1910) 2 1957, 1968 Oklahoma State (1958) 2 1991†, 1993 Nebraska (1921) 1 1981

See also Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year – the successor to the Big Eight Conference and its players of the year (although the Big 12 does not recognize Big Eight Players of the Year as their own)

References