The Larry Bird Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Missouri Valley Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1968–69 season. It was renamed to honor Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who played at Indiana State from 1977 to 1979 and led the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA Championship game. Bird won every major player of the year award (including the Naismith and Wooden awards) in 1979.
Drake has the most all-time winners with eight. Three current conference members have not had a winner, but two of them (Murray State and UIC) played their first MVC seasons in 2022–23, and the other (Valparaiso) played its first MVC season in 2017–18.
There have never been any ties for the player of the year, but there have been 10 repeat winners in the award's history. Of the repeat winners, Fred VanVleet of Wichita State (2014 and 2016) and A. J. Green of Northern Iowa (2020, 2022) won in non-consecutive years.
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 MVC Player of the Year award at that point
Winners
Season Player School Position Class Reference 1968–69 Tulsa SF 1969–70 Cincinnati C 1970–71 Drake SF 1971–72 Memphis G 1972–73 Memphis PF 1973–74 Louisville SF 1974–75 (2) Louisville SF 1975–76 Southern Illinois PG 1976–77 Bradley SG 1977–78 Indiana State SF 1978–79 * (2) Indiana State SF 1979–80 Drake SF / SG 1980–81 (2) Drake SF / SG 1981–82 Tulsa PG / F 1982–83 Wichita State C 1983–84 Wichita State PF 1984–85 (2) Wichita State PF 1985–86 Bradley PG 1986–87 Bradley SG 1987–88 * (2) Bradley SG 1988–89 Bradley PG 1989–90 Creighton PF 1990–91 Creighton C 1991–92 Southern Illinois PF 1992–93 Drake PG 1993–94 Tulsa SF 1994–95 Southern Illinois SG 1995–96 Bradley SG / SF 1996–97 Northern Iowa PG 1997–98 Illinois State F 1998–99 Evansville SG / PG 1999–00 Indiana State SF 2000–01 Illinois State PG 2001–02 Creighton SF / SG 2002–03 (2) Creighton SF / SG 2003–04 Southern Illinois G 2004–05 (2) Southern Illinois G 2005–06 Wichita State C 2006–07 Southern Illinois SG 2007–08 Drake PG 2008–09 Creighton SG 2009–10 Northern Iowa PF 2010–11 Missouri State SF 2011–12 Creighton SF / PF 2012–13 (2) Creighton SF / PF 2013–14 Wichita State PG 2014–15 Northern Iowa PF 2015–16 (2) Wichita State PG 2016–17 Illinois State PG 2017–18 Loyola PG 2018–19 Loyola SG 2019–20 Northern Iowa PG 2020–21 Loyola C 2021–22 (2) Northern Iowa PG 2022–23 Drake SG / SF 2023–24 (2) Drake SG / SF 2024–25 Drake PG 2025–26 Belmont SG
Winners by school School (year joined) Winners Years Drake (1907) 8 1971, 1980, 1981, 1993, 2008, 2023, 2024, 2025 Creighton (1977) 7 1990, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2013 Bradley (1948) 6 1977, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1996 Southern Illinois (1975) 6 1976, 1992, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2007 Wichita State (1945) 6 1983, 1984, 1985, 2006, 2014, 2016 Northern Iowa (1991) 5 1997, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2022 Illinois State (1981) 3 1998, 2001, 2017 Indiana State (1977) 3 1978, 1979, 2000 Loyola (2013) 3 2018, 2019, 2021 Tulsa (1935) 3 1969, 1982, 1994 Louisville (1963) 2 1974, 1975 Memphis (1968) 2 1972, 1973 Belmont (2022) 1 2026 Cincinnati (1957) 1 1970 Evansville (1994) 1 1999 Missouri State (1990) 1 2011 Murray State (2022) 0 — UIC (2022) 0 — Valparaiso (2017) 0 —
References