West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

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WCC Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Awarded forthe most outstanding basketball player in the West Coast Conference
CountryUnited States
History
First award1953
Most recentCorey Kispert, Gonzaga

The West Coast Conference (WCC) Men's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the most outstanding men's basketball player in the West Coast Conference. The award was first given following the conference's inaugural 1952–53 season, when it was known as the California Basketball Association. The only season in which the award was not presented was the conference's second season of 1953–54. There have been four ties in the award's history, most recently in 2006–07 between Sean Denison of Santa Clara and Derek Raivio of Gonzaga. There have also been 13 repeat winners, but only one—Bill Cartwright of San Francisco—has been Player of the Year three times.

Four schools in the West Coast Conference have dominated the total awards distribution. Before 2000, Pepperdine, San Francisco and Santa Clara had earned the bulk of the awards. Since then, Gonzaga has claimed a near-monopoly on it. In the 21 seasons from 2000–01 to the present, coinciding with the Bulldogs' rise to national prominence, Gonzaga players have won the award outright 14 times and shared the award once. Gonzaga now claims the most winners with 18, while each of the three other schools are tied for the second most with 11 winners apiece. The next closest school, Saint Mary's, has eight. One current member has yet to have a winner (Portland).

Key[]

† Co-Players of the Year
* Awarded a national Player of the Year award:
Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79)
UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96)
Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present)
John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present)
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the WCC Player of the Year award at that point

Winners[]

USF's Bill Russell went on to become the winningest NBA champion in history.
Future NBA coach Rick Adelman of Loyola won the award in 1968.
John Stockton of Gonzaga is the NBA's all-time assists and steals leader.
Steve Nash, a former Santa Clara Bronco, is a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
Ronny Turiaf used to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
As a junior in 2005–06, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison led the nation in scoring at 28.1 points per game.
Jeremy Pargo from Gonzaga won the award in 2008. He is the brother of NBA player Jannero Pargo.
Season Player School Position Class Reference
1952–53 Ken Sears Santa Clara PF Sophomore
1953–54 None selected
1954–55 Ken Sears (2) Santa Clara PF Senior
1955–56 Bill Russell * San Francisco C Senior
1956–57 Mike Farmer San Francisco PF Junior
1957–58 † Mike Farmer (2) San Francisco PF Senior
Leroy Wright Pacific PF Junior
1958–59 † LaRoy Doss Saint Mary's PF Senior
Leroy Wright (2) Pacific PF Senior
1959–60 Jerry Grote Loyola Marymount SG/PG Sophomore
1960–61 Tom Meschery Saint Mary's PF Senior
1961–62 † Harry Dinnel Pepperdine SF/SG Junior
Steve Gray Saint Mary's G Junior
1962–63 Steve Gray (2) Saint Mary's G Senior
1963–64 Ollie Johnson San Francisco C Junior
1964–65 Ollie Johnson (2) San Francisco C Senior
1965–66 Keith Swagerty Pacific F Junior
1966–67 Keith Swagerty (2) Pacific F Senior
1967–68 Rick Adelman Loyola Marymount SG Senior
1968–69 Dennis Awtrey Santa Clara C Junior
1969–70 Dennis Awtrey (2) Santa Clara C Senior
1970–71 John Gianelli Pacific C/PF Sophomore
1971–72 Mike Stewart Santa Clara C Junior
1972–73 Bird Averitt Pepperdine PG Senior
1973–74 Frank Oleynick Seattle SG Junior
1974–75 Ricky Sobers UNLV G Senior
1975–76 Marcos Leite Pepperdine PF Junior
1976–77 Bill Cartwright San Francisco C Sophomore
1977–78 Bill Cartwright (2) San Francisco C Junior
1978–79 Bill Cartwright (3) San Francisco C Senior
1979–80 Kurt Rambis Santa Clara SF Senior
1980–81 Quintin Dailey San Francisco SG Sophomore
1981–82 Quintin Dailey (2) San Francisco SG Junior
1982–83† Orlando Phillips Pepperdine C Senior
Dane Suttle Pepperdine G Senior
1983–84 John Stockton Gonzaga PG Senior
1984–85 Dwayne Polee Pepperdine SF/SG Junior
1985–86 Dwayne Polee (2) Pepperdine SF/SG Senior
1986–87 Scott Thompson San Diego C Senior
1987–88 Levy Middlebrooks Pepperdine PF Senior
1988–89 Hank Gathers Loyola Marymount PF Junior
1989–90 Bo Kimble Loyola Marymount SG Senior
1990–91 Doug Christie Pepperdine SG Junior
1991–92 Doug Christie (2) Pepperdine SG Senior
1992–93 Dana Jones Pepperdine SF Junior
1993–94 Jeff Brown Gonzaga PF Senior
1994–95 Steve Nash Santa Clara PG Junior
1995–96 Steve Nash (2) Santa Clara PG Senior
1996–97 Marlon Garnett Santa Clara G Senior
1997–98 Bakari Hendrix Gonzaga PF Senior
1998–99 Eric Schraeder Saint Mary's PF Senior
1999–00 Kenyon Jones San Francisco C Senior
2000–01 Casey Calvary Gonzaga PF Senior [1]
2001–02 Dan Dickau Gonzaga PG Senior [2]
2002–03 Blake Stepp Gonzaga PG Junior [3]
2003–04 Blake Stepp (2) Gonzaga PG Senior [4]
2004–05 Ronny Turiaf Gonzaga C Senior [5]
2005–06 Adam Morrison Gonzaga SF Junior [6]
2006–07 † Sean Denison Santa Clara F Senior [7]
Derek Raivio Gonzaga PG/SG Senior
2007–08 Jeremy Pargo Gonzaga PG Junior [8]
2008–09 John Bryant Santa Clara C Senior [9]
2009–10 Matt Bouldin Gonzaga SG Senior [10]
2010–11 Mickey McConnell Saint Mary's PG Senior [11]
2011–12 Matthew Dellavedova Saint Mary's PG Junior [12]
2012–13 Kelly Olynyk Gonzaga C Junior [13]
2013–14 Tyler Haws BYU SG Junior [14]
2014–15 Kevin Pangos Gonzaga PG Senior [15]
2015–16 Kyle Collinsworth BYU PG Senior [16]
2016–17 Nigel Williams-Goss Gonzaga PG Junior [17]
2017–18 Jock Landale Saint Mary's C Senior [18]
2018–19 Rui Hachimura Gonzaga PF Junior [1]
2019–20 Filip Petrušev Gonzaga PF Sophomore [2]
2020–21 Corey Kispert Gonzaga SF Senior [3]

Winners by school[]

School (year joined) Winners Years
Gonzaga (1979) 18 1984, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007†, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021
Pepperdine (1955) 11 1962†, 1973, 1976, 1983 (×2)†, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993
San Francisco (1952) 11 1956, 1957, 1958†, 1964, 1965, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 2000
Santa Clara (1952) 11 1953, 1955, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1980, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007†, 2009
Saint Mary's (1952) 8 1959†, 1961, 1962†, 1963, 1999, 2011, 2012, 2018
Pacific (1952/2013)[a] 5 1958†, 1959†, 1966, 1967, 1971
Loyola Marymount (1955) 4 1960, 1968, 1989, 1990
BYU (2011) 2 2014, 2016
San Diego (1979) 1 1987
Seattle (1971)[b] 1 1974
UNLV (1969)[c] 1 1975
Fresno State (1955)[d] 0 —
Nevada (1969)[e] 0 —
Portland (1976) 0 —
San Jose State (1952)[f] 0 —
UC Santa Barbara (1964)[g] 0 —

Footnotes[]

  • a The University of the Pacific left in 1971 to join its football team in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), now known as the Big West Conference. Pacific had been a charter PCAA member for football only in 1969. The school, which dropped football in 1995, rejoined the WCC in 2013.
  • b Seattle University left in 1980 to become an NAIA school. It has since rejoined the NCAA, first as a Division II school and now in Division I, and is now a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
  • c The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) left in 1975 to become a Division I independent. UNLV is now a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW).
  • d California State University, Fresno, more commonly known as Fresno State, spent two seasons as a dual member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the then-WCAC. The Bulldogs returned to exclusive CCAA membership in 1957, and are now in the MW.
  • e The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada) left in 1979 for the Big Sky Conference. The Wolf Pack are now in the MW.
  • f San Jose State University left in 1969 to become a founding member of the PCAA. The Spartans are now in the MW.
  • g The University of California, Santa Barbara left in 1969 to become a founding member of the PCAA. Apart from a two-year stint in the mid-1970s in which they were independent, the Gauchos have remained in the PCAA/Big West to this day.

References[]

  • "WCC Men's Basketball History" (PDF). West Coast Conference. 2008. p. 26. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  1. ^ "WCC Announces 2018-19 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team" (Press release). West Coast Conference. March 5, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  2. ^ "WCC Announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team" (Press release). West Coast Conference. March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  3. ^ "WCC Unveils 2020-21 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors" (Press release). West Coast Conference. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
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