The Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Big South Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1985–86 season, the first year the league conducted basketball competition.
A distinctive recipient of the Big South Player of the Year Award is Tony Dunkin. Dunkin, a small forward, played for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from 1989 to 1993 and won the award all four seasons. He is the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player to ever earn four conference player of the year awards.
Coastal Carolina, which left the Big South for the Sun Belt Conference after the 2015–16 season, has the most all-time awards with nine and individual winners with five. Among current members, Winthrop has the most awards with seven. The only established Big South members without any winners are three of the six newest members of the conference—Presbyterian (joining in 2007), Gardner–Webb (2008), and Longwood (2012). Although Campbell's current tenure in the Big South dates only to 2011, it has three winners from its first conference tenure (1983–1994).
Key † Co-Players of the Year* Awarded a national player of the year award that same season: 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 South Player of the Year award at that point
Winners
Season Player School Position Class Reference 1985–86 Winthrop F 1986–87 Campbell F 1987–88 Coastal Carolina PF / C 1988–89 Campbell C 1989–90 Coastal Carolina SF 1990–91 (2) Coastal Carolina SF 1991–92 (3) Coastal Carolina SF 1992–93 (4) Coastal Carolina SF 1993–94 Campbell SF 1994–95 Charleston Southern PG 1995–96 Charleston Southern SF 1996–97 UNC Asheville SG 1997–98 (2) UNC Asheville SG 1998–99 UNC Asheville SF 1999–00 Radford F 2000–01 Coastal Carolina SF 2001–02 Winthrop PF 2002–03 (2) Coastal Carolina SF 2003–04 High Point PF 2004–05 Coastal Carolina SG 2005–06 Coastal Carolina PG / SG 2006–07 High Point PF 2007–08 (2) High Point PF 2008–09 Radford C 2009–10 (2) Radford C 2010–11 Liberty PG 2011–12 UNC Asheville PG 2012–13 VMI PF 2013–14 High Point PF 2014–15 Charleston Southern PG 2015–16 (2) High Point PF 2016–17 Winthrop G 2017–18 Winthrop PF 2018–19 Campbell PG 2019–20 Radford PG 2020–21 Winthrop PG / SG 2021–22 Winthrop F 2022–23 UNC Asheville F 2023–24 (2) UNC Asheville F 2024–25 Charleston Southern PF 2025–26 Winthrop C
Winners by school School (year joined) Winners Years Coastal Carolina (1983) 9 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 Winthrop (1983) 7 1986, 2002, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2026 UNC Asheville (1984) 6 1997, 1998, 1999, 2012, 2023, 2024 High Point (1999) 5 2004, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016 Campbell (1983/2011) 4 1987, 1989, 1994, 2019 Charleston Southern (1983) 4 1995, 1996, 2015, 2025 Radford (1983) 4 2000, 2009, 2010, 2020 Liberty (1991) 1 2011 VMI (2003) 1 2013 Gardner–Webb (2008) 0 — Hampton (2018) 0 — Longwood (2012) 0 — North Carolina A&T (2021) 0 — Presbyterian (2007) 0 — USC Upstate (2018) 0 —
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