U.S. Basketball Writers Association president Bryan Burwell (left) of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Big O with 2011 winner Jimmer Fredette, now with the Sacramento Kings, at the USBWA awards breakfast. Fredette is Brigham Young University's first Oscar Robertson Trophy winner and only the second Mountain West Conference player to receive the award (Utah's Andrew Bogut, now with the Milwaukee Bucks, was the first in 2005). (Photo by Anthony Vasser, courtesy of the US Basketball Writers Association.) Read USBWA past president
A portion of the proceeds from
each year's presentation benefits the  The Oscar Robertson Trophy, presented by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, is the premier men's college player of the year award. It is also the only player of the year award actually named after a player — in this case, the National Association of Basketball Coaches' "Player of the Century." The 2012 Oscar Robertson Trophy will be presented by The Big O himself at the U.S. Basketball Writers Association awards breakfast, Friday, March 30 at 8am at the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans, just prior to the Final Four. The Henry Iba Coach of the Year award, the Good Guy award, the Most Courageous award, and the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year award will also be presented. Former LSU Coach Dale Brown, who took the Tigers to two Final Four appearances, will also be honored. To purchase tickets to the breakfast, click here. Leading up to the Oscar Robertson Trophy presentation, the USBWA selects an Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, and those players are generally among the finalists for the Trophy. To keep up on the weekly announcements, click here. The trophy is an 18" bronze sculpture created in 2005 by world-renowned St. Louis sculptor Harry Weber on commission from the USBWA and is based on the famous photo of Oscar Robertson rebounding against Kansas State. Weber's bronze sculptures are in the permanent collections of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY and the National Dog Museum, as well as private collections across the U.S. and overseas, and have been featured at the Museum of Fine Arts in Newport, Rhode Island. UCLA has the most Oscar Robertson Trophy winners with nine, followed by Duke University with seven. Kenyon Martin was the first University of Cincinnati player to win the award since The Big O himself last won in 1960. For the complete list of winners since 1959, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. Two permanent display cases, one of Oscar Robertson Trophy winners and one of memorabilia from The Big O's career dating back to Indianapolis Crispus Attucks High School, have been set up in the entrance hall at Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers and site of the 2006 Oscar Robertson Trophy presentation. Larry Bird, president of basketball operations for the Pacers, assisted The Big O in unveiling the display cases. Last update 01/31/12
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