Two U.S. Basketball Writers Association sponsors – ESPN and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – partnered in April to showcase the nation's top men's college basketball players on a nationally-televised event originating in Los Angeles.

The one-hour TV show included the presentation of several end-of-season awards, including five positional honors created by the Basketball Hall of Fame: the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award to Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, winner of the USBWA's Oscar Robertson Trophy as the national player of the year; the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award to Michigan State's Denzel Valentine; the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award to Iowa State's Georges Niang; the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award to Utah's Jakob Poeltl; and the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award to Kentucky's Tyler Ulis.

The show also highlighted the 2016 John Wooden Legends of Coaching Award to Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith. He is one of two coaches – Lon Kruger of Oklahoma being the other – to lead five different schools to the NCAA tournament.

OTHER USBWA SPONSORS: In addition to ESPN and the Hall of Fame, the USBWA thanks its other sponsors for their support during 2015-16: Connor Sports Flooring, USA Basketball, the NABC, Access Sports, the ACC, Big East, American Athletic, Conference USA and the Pac-12.

HALL OF FAME CLASS: The Naismith Hall of Fame announced at the NCAA Men's Final Four in Houston the 10 members of this year's Hall of Fame class. They will be enshrined during ceremonies at the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 9.

This year's class includes several individuals with college basketball ties: Tom Izzo, current Michigan State coach; Allen Iverson (Georgetown); John McClendon (Tennessee State); Shaquille O'Neal (LSU); Sheryl Swoopes (Texas Tech); Cumberland Posey (Duquesne); and Zelmo Beaty (Prairie View A&M).

Izzo has led MSU to seven NCAA Final Four appearances, 18 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and a national championship in 2000.

McClendon won three consecutive national championships as head coach at Tennessee State.

O'Neal led the nation in rebounding in 1991 and blocked shots in 1992 and earned unanimous First Team All-America honors in 1992 at LSU.

Swoops led Texas Tech to an NCAA women's championship in 1993 and set an NCAA championship record for most points in game with 47.

Posey was recognized as the greatest African-American basketball player of his time from the early 1900s to the mid-1920s. He led Duquesne in scoring for three seasons.

Beaty led Prairie View A&M to the 1962 NAIA championship and in four seasons averaged 25 points and 20 rebounds per game.