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ST. LOUIS (USBWA) The U.S. Basketball Writers
Association has selected Michigan sophomore guard
Trey Burke as
the winner of the 2012-13 Oscar Robertson Trophy presented by
Aflac, annually presented to the National Player of the Year.
The announcement was made at a news conference today at the
Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, site of the NCAA Men's Final Four.
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| Burke |
Burke will be officially presented the Oscar Robertson
Trophy by its namesake, the legendary Oscar Robertson, on Mon.,
April 15 at the Devon Energy College Basketball Awards gala at
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
The 6-0, 190-pounder from Columbus, Ohio, becomes the second
USBWA national player of the year from Michigan and the seventh
from a Big Ten Conference school. Cazzie Russell was the 1966
USBWA National Player of the Year. Burke is just the ninth
sophomore to win the award, but the first second-year guard to
be so honored.
A first-team USBWA All-American and the USBWA
District V Player of the Year, Burke was chosen as the national
player of the year from a field of 14 finalists, based on
regular-season performance.
The Big Ten Player of the
Year led the Wolverines (30-7) to a 16-0 start, a number one
national ranking (Jan. 28) and the school's first Final Four
appearance since 1993. Burke leads the team in scoring (18.8
ppg) and assists (6.8 apg) while also grabbing 3.1 rebounds per
game. He also is shooting 80.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Michigan has committed the fewest turnovers per
game (9.4) of any team in the country.
Burke has started
all 37 games this season and has scored in double figures in
each contest as the Wolverines have been ranked among the
nation's top ten for the entire season. Three times, Burke was
named the Big Ten Player of the Week and, for the week ending
Jan. 6, he was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the
Week by the USBWA.
In the NCAA Tournament, after being
held scoreless in the first half of the South Regional semifinal
vs. top-seeded Kansas, Burke scored 23 points after halftime,
including a dramatic 30-foot three-pointer with four seconds
left in regulation that sent the game to overtime. After
Michigan defeated the Jayhawks in the extra session, the
Wolverines disposed of Florida two days later behind a 15-point,
8-assist, 7-rebound effort effort from Burke to advance to
Atlanta. To date, Michigan has not lost a non-conference game
(17-0) this season.
 The
Oscar Robertson Trophy is voted on by the
entire membership of the association, which consists of more
than 900 journalists. It is the nations 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 15
banquet will also honor Miami (Fla.) coach Jim Larranaga with
the Henry Iba Award as the national coach of the year, Oklahoma
State guard Marcus Smart with the Integris Wayman Tisdale Award
as the national freshman of the year and Michigan State coach
Tom Izzo 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.
USBWA Players of the Year from the Big Ten
1961 Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1962 Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
1966 Cazzie Russell, Michigan
1993 Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
1994 Glenn Robinson, Purdue
2010 Evan Turner, Ohio State
USBWA Players of the Year as a sophomore
1967 Lew
Alcindor, UCLA (C)
1972 Bill Walton, UCLA (C)
1980 Mark
Aguirre, DePaul (F)
1981 Ralph Sampson, Virginia (C)
1994
Glenn Robinson, Purdue (F)
1999 Elton Brand, Duke (C)
2005
Andrew Bogut, Utah (C)
2009 Blake Griffin, Oklahoma (F)
Related links:
Oscar Robertson Trophy
Video (from btn.com) |
Photos (from mgoblue.com)
Purchase tickets to the College Basketball Awards gala
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