ST. LOUIS – Tyler Hansbrough, University of North Carolina’s 6-9 junior All-American from Poplar Bluff, Mo., has been chosen winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the U. S. Basketball Writers Association as the nation’s top college basketball player for the 2007-08 season.

Hansbrough received the trophy at the USBWA’s annual college basketball awards breakfast Friday, April 4 in San Antonio.

First-year Drake University Coach Keno Davis, who guided the Bulldogs to the school's first NCAA tournament berth and first Missouri Valley Conference championship in 37 years, as well as the school’s first-ever MVC tournament championship, was presented with the USBWA’s Henry Iba Award as Coach of the Year.

Selected by the USBWA two years ago as freshman of the year, Hansbrough was a dominating force for North Carolina this season, leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, a No. 1 ranking in the national polls and a school record 36 wins.

He was the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and led the league in scoring and rebounding with averages of 23.1 and 10.5, respectively.

Hansbrough is the fourth player from North Carolina to receive the USBWA player of the year award.  The others are Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984) and Antawan Jamison (1998).

This is the 50th anniversary of the USBWA player of the year award.  First presented in 1959 to University of Cincinnati junior Oscar Robertson – who was a consensus player of the year winner his previous season as well -- it is now the nation’s oldest player of the year award and only one named after a player. (The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.)

Keno Davis, 36, succeeded his father, Dr. Tom Davis, as head coach at Drake this season. The Bulldogs had lost four starters from a year ago and were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team MVC. But the team won 21 straight games at one point, en route to a school record 28-4 slate entering the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs became the lowest pre-season pick ever to win the league title.

The Henry Iba Award for Davis marks the first time a Drake basketball coach has been named national coach of the year since coaching legend Maury John was honored in 1969 by the USBWA.

Before taking over for his father at Drake, Davis had served as an assistant at Drake since May 2003. He also spent six years as an assistant to former Drake head coach Gary Garner at Southeast Missouri State and as an assistant under Bruce Pearl at Southern Indiana.