Doug McDermott

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected Creighton senior forward Doug McDermott as the winner of the 2013-14 Oscar Robertson Trophy, annually presented to the National Player of the Year. The announcement was made at a news conference today at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, site of the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

McDermott

McDermott will be officially presented the Oscar Robertson Trophy on Mon., April 14 at theDevon Energy College Basketball Awards gala at National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

“It’s an unbelievable honor,” McDermott said. “I was not old enough to see Oscar play, but I always heard from my father and grandfather how great he was.”

The 6-8, 225-pounder from Ames Iowa, becomes the first USBWA national player of the year from Creighton and just the third from a Big East Conference school. Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, both from St. John’s, won back-to-back player of the year awards in 1985-86. The 2013-14 season marked Creighton’s first season in the Big East.

A three-time USBWA All-American and two-time USBWA District VI Player of the Year, McDermott was chosen as the national player of the year based on regular-season performance. He is just the 19th player to earn three-time All-America honors from the USBWA and the first since Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina (2007-09)

The Big East Player of the Year finished a remarkable collegiate career with 3,150 points, fifth-most in NCAA history. He leads the nation in scoring (26.7) and shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 44.9 percent from three-point range, and 86.4 percent from the free-throw line. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds per game. Twice this season – and four times in his career – he was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the USBWA. On March 8, in a 45-point performance against Providence on Senior Night, McDermott passed Oscar Robertson on the NCAA’s career scoring list and became just the eighth player to score 3,000 career points. Playing for his father, coach Greg McDermott, he scored 30-plus points in 13 of 35 games while averaging 33.7 minutes per game in a 28-7 season.

“He’s a naturally gifted player, and he got a lot of that from his dad. But he’s going to get better,” Oscar Robertson said. “What he did in college, he’s going to do more in the pros.”

The Oscar Robertson Trophy is voted on by the entire membership of the association, which consists of more than 900 journalists. It is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA’s first player of the year in 1959 and was the consensus national player of the year as a sophomore in 1958, the year before USBWA started giving its player of the year award. The USBWA renamed the award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.

Tickets and sponsorship information for the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards are available at collegebasketballawards.com or by contacting Scott Hill (405-749-1515, scott.hill@access-sports.net). The April 14 banquet will also honor Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall with the Henry Iba Award as the national coach of the year, Duke forward Jabari Parker with the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award as the national freshman of the year and Kansas coach Bill Self as the recipient of the Wayman Tisdale Humanitarian Award.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Today, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-795-6821.

ST. LOUIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected the Creighton forward Doug McDermott as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Feb. 16. The USBWA’s weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and is announced exclusively on SiriusXM Radio’s “Inside College Basketball.”

McDermott

As the Big East Conference Player of the Week, McDermott was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.

McDermott, a 6-8 senior from Ames, Iowa, averaged 32.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in a pair of wins last week to lead the Bluejays back into first place in the Big East. He shot 24-for-36 from the field (.667), 7-for-11 from three-point range (.636) and also was perfect in 10 free throw attempts (1.000).

McDermott’s week began last Thursday with 26 points and five rebounds in a 68-63 win at Butler. With Creighton trailing by two in the final minute, his three-pointer with 47.8 seconds left started a game-ending 7-0 run. He sank 11-of-19 shots from the field, including 3-of-5 shots from three-point range. On Sunday, McDermott tied a season-high with 39 points in a 101-80 thumping of No. 6 Villanova. He scored Creighton’s first 11 points and made 13-of-17 shots, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, and was also perfect on nine free throw. His three-pointer with 13:23 left moved him into 13th place on the NCAA all-time scoring list (2.863 points), passing Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

For the second time this season and the fourth time in his career, McDermott has been honored as the National Player of the Week by the USBWA. McDermott has earned the honor once in each of the previous two seasons (Week of Dec. 16, 2013, and week of Dec. 25, 2012) while Creighton was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. This season, he previously earned the honor the week of Jan. 14.

This is the fifth season that the USBWA has selected a national player of the week. The weekly Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week will be considered for the Oscar Robertson Trophy watch list, which will be released at mid-season.

Since the 1958-59 season, the USBWA has named a National Player of the Year. In 1998, the award was named in honor of the University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer and two-time USBWA Player of the Year Oscar Robertson. It is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the entire membership. The winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy will be presented by its namesake, Oscar Robertson, at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards on April 14 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award and the Integris Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Awardwill also be presented at the gala to be held annually the Monday following the NCAA Men’s Final Four.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and the Oscar Robertson Trophy, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-795-6821.

Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, the most comprehensive college basketball publication in the world, returns for its 33rd season, bigger and better in 2013-14. Blue Ribbon – long-known as “The Bible of College Basketball” – gives its readers the most thorough, up-to-date and timely evaluations of every Division I team in the country. For more information about Blue Ribbon Yearbooks, visit blueribbonyearbookonline.com.

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