The USBWA has chosen a national freshman of the year since the 1988-89 season when LSU's Chris Jackson was the recipient. Other previous winners of the award include Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd and Chris Webber. The 2017-18 season marks the eighth year the award has been named in Wayman Tisdale's honor.

The late Wayman Tisdale was a three-time USBWA All-American at the University of Oklahoma. Following a stint on the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team, he played 12 seasons in the NBA before retiring in 1997 to focus on a blossoming jazz music career. In March 2007, he was diagnosed with cancer and, following a courageous and difficult battle that included the amputation of his right leg in 2008, he passed away in May 2009.

Jabari Smith

2021-21 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Jabari Smith, Auburn
One of three freshman on the 2021-22 USBWA All-America team and one of two second-teamers, the 6-10, 220-pounder from Fayetteville, Ga., was the SEC’s Freshman of the Year averaging a team-leading 16.9 points per game and was on the All-SEC First Team. Smith was a six-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree. Smith lead Auburn (28-6) to the its first outright regular-season conference title since 1999 and its 11th NCAA Tournament appearance and third of the last five seasons, earning a No. 2 seed, the second-highest in program history. The Tigers captured a school-record 15 SEC wins this season and had their first undefeated season (16-0) at home in Neville Arena.

2020-21 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State point guard Cade Cunningham, a true freshman who electrified the Big 12 Conference and led the Cowboys' late-season surge to their first NCAA Tournament win since 2009, is the winner of the 2020-21 Wayman Tisdale Award, honoring the National Freshman Player of the Year based on voting by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. The lone freshman on USBWA's 2020-21 All-America first team, Cunningham led the Big 12 in scoring at 20.2 points per game and was a nine-time recipient of the Big 12 Player and/or Newcomer of the Week honor, the most by any player this season and the most in school history. A USBWA All-District VI selection, he is just the fourth Big 12 player to sweep the conference's player of the year and freshman of the year awards and was the second-highest-scoring freshman nationally.

2019-20 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Vernon Carey Jr., Duke
A 6-10 freshman from Southwest Ranches, Fla. in greater Miami, Carey was the only player ranked in the Atlantic Coast Conference's top 10 in scoring (third, 17.8 ppg), rebounding (fourth, 8.8), field goal percentage (first, .577) and blocked shots (sixth, 1.6). The ACC Freshman of the Year was the only freshman on the 15-man USBWA All-America team and posted 15 double-doubles on the season, second among NCAA freshmen and second in the ACC. Ten of his double-doubles were 20-10 performances and he was in the top four among freshmen nationally in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounds.

2018-19 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Zion Williamson, Duke
The 6-7 forward from Spartanburg, S.C., is the fourth Duke player to win the Wayman Tisdale Award and the first since Jahlil Okafor in 2015. Duke players have now won three of the last six Wayman Tisdale Awards. Following the Blue Devils' dramatic 77-76 win over UCF to advance to the school's 27th Sweet 16, Williamson is averaging 22.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, despite missing the last five games of the regular season. His current 68.4 shooting percentage leads the ACC and is second nationally and is threatening the ACC single-season record set by North Carolina's Brendan Haywood (69.7 percent in 1999-2000).

2018-19 Wayman Tisdale National Freshmen of the Week
• Week ending Dec. 2: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 9: RJ Barrett, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 16: Wynston Tabbs, Boston College (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 23: Mac McClung, Georgetown (Big East Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 30: Tyler Herro, Kentucky (Southeastern Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 6: Antoine Davis, Detroit (Horizon League)
• Week ending Jan. 13: Jaylen Gardner, East Carolina (American Athletic Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 20: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 27: Zion Williamson, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 3: Lamine Diane, Cal State Northridge (Big West Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 10: Devon Dotson, Kansas (Big 12 Conference)1
• Week ending Feb. 17: Jalen Pickett, Siena (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 24: RJ Barrett, Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Trae Young

2017-18 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Trae Young, Oklahoma
Young, a 6-2, 185-pound guard from Norman, Okla., is averaging 27.5 points per game and 8.9 assists per game going into the Sooners' Big 12 Conference Tournament opener. No player in recorded NCAA history has finished a season leading the country in both scoring and assists. Young has recorded 12 double-doubles (points/assists) this season to go with four 40-point games and nine 30-point games.

2017-18 Wayman Tisdale National Freshmen of the Week
• Week ending Dec. 3: Trae Young, Oklahoma (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 10: Deandre Ayton, Arizona (Pac-12 Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 17: David Jenkins Jr., South Dakota State (Summit League)
• Week ending Dec. 24: Trae Young, Oklahoma (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 31: Mohamed Bamba, Texas (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 7: McKinely Wright IV, Colorado (Pac-12 Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 14: Trae Young, Oklahoma (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 21: R.J. Cole, Howard (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 28: Kevin Knox, Kentucky (Southeastern Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 4: Trae Young, Oklahoma (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 11: Cameron Lard, Iowa State (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 18: Mohamed Bamba, Texas (Big 12 Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 25: Deandre Ayton, Arizona (Pac-12 Conference)

Lonzo Ball

2016-17 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Lonzo Ball, UCLA
Ball, a 6-6 guard from Chino Hills, Calif., leads the nation in assists per game (7.7) and total assists (241) while establishing the Pac-12 Conference freshman assists record for one season. In addition, he is averaging 14.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is on pace to become the first Pac-12 player to average at least 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a season since California’s Jason Kidd in the 1993-94 season.

2015-16 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Ben Simmons, LSU
Simmons, a 6-10 forward from Melbourne, Australia, Simmons led all Division I freshmen in rebounds this season with an 11.8 average and was third among all freshmen in scoring with a 19.8 mark. He ranked fifth nationally among all players with 22 double-doubles and shot 56.0 percent from the field.

2014-15 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Jahlil Okafor, Duke
Okafor, a 6-11, 270-pound true freshman from Chicago, is the USBWA's District III Player of the Year and the first freshman to be named the Atlantic Coast Conference's Player of the Year. He leads the Blue Devils and ranks among the top five in the ACC in scoring (17.7), rebounds (9.0) and field goal percentage (.669) as he attempts to become the first freshman to lead Duke in all three categories. Okafor has recorded 11 double-doubles and 12 20-point games this season. His 28 straight double-digit scoring games, achieved earlier this season, is a freshman conference record. Eight times this season Okafor was named ACC Rookie of the Week and the weeks of Dec. 14, 2014, and Jan. 4, Okafor was named the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week by the USBWA.

2013-14 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Jabari Parker, Duke
Parker, a 6-8, 235-pound true freshman from Chicago, is the USBWA's District III Player of the Year, a consensus All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection and the conference's Rookie of the Year. He is second in the ACC in scoring (19.3) and is looks to become just the fourth freshman in conference history to lead the league in rebounds (8.8). Parker has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and in 32 of 34 games this season, breaking the the Duke freshman record held by Gene Banks and Luol Deng, the 2004 USBWA National Freshman of the Year. Ten times this season Parker was named ACC Rookie of the Week and the week of Dec. 24, Parker was the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week.

2012-13 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State
Smart, a 6-4, 225-pound true freshman from Flower Mound, Texas, has joined a pair of previous USBWA National Freshman of the Year Award winners – Texas' Kevin Durant (2007) and Kansas State's Michael Beasley (2008) – in an exclusive group of three players to be chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season. Smart was also named to the USBWA's All-District VI Team to go with selections to the All-Big 12 First Team, the Big 12 All-Defensive Team and the Big 12 All-Rookie Team. Smart is ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in several categories, including scoring (15.1, 6th), assists (4.3, 6th), steals (3.0, 1st) and free-throw percentage (73.8, 5th). His 89 steals tied the conference's single-season record. He also already holds the Oklahoma State school record for most assists and his 78.3 free-throw percentage is the highest ever by a Cowboy freshman with at least 75 made free throws. Heading into the Big 12 Tournament, Smart has 24 double-figure scoring games and nine 20-point games in 30 games played, all of which he has started.

2011-12 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Anthony Davis, Kentucky
Davis, a first-team USBWA All-American and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, has led Kentucky to a 32-2 record, including a perfect 16-0 mark in the SEC. The 6-10 forward from Chicago, Ill., has started all 34 games this season and has led the team with 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while shooting 64.9 percent from the field, second best in the nation. Davis also leads the nation in blocks (154). Twice this season Davis was named the SEC Player of the Week and he was the conference's Freshman of the Week four times. In 28 of the Wildcats' 34 games, he has scored in double figures while recording 17 double-doubles.

2010-11 Wayman Tisdale Award Winner: Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
Sullinger, a first-team USBWA All-American and the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year, has led Ohio State to a 32-2 record, the Big Ten regular-season and conference tournament championships and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 6-9 forward from Columbus, Ohio, has started all 34 games this season and has led the team with 17.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Four times this season Sullinger has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week. In 31 of the Buckeyes' 34 games, he has scored in double figures while recording 17 double-doubles. His 40-point game on Dec. 9 vs IUPUI is a school freshman record. Sullinger is just the second player from the Big Ten to win the USBWA's National Freshman of the Year Award, joining Michigan's Chris Webber in 1993.