The Tribune

UNIVERSITY of Oklahoma senior guard Buddy Hield was announced as the 2016 John R Wooden Award winner Friday night, presented annually to the nation’s top men’s college basketball player.

The announcement was made at the College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s in Los Angeles inside NOVO.

Additionally, Hield was handed the 2016 Jerry West Award as the country’s top shooting guard.

Hield joins Blake Griffin as the school’s only Wooden Award winners. The Bahamas native beat out Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis for the award. In the past week, Hield has been awarded the Oscar Robertson Trophy, Naismith Trophy and now the John R Wooden Award as the nation’s top overall player.

“It’s been fun and I can’t be more blessed to be around college basketball,” Hield said Friday night. “I can’t be prouder and I thank my family for supporting me through the whole journey.”

The College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s – in coordination with the Los Angeles Athletic Club and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – included the exclusive presentation of the John R Wooden Award Men’s Player of the Year Presented by Wendy’s, John R Wooden Award Women’s Player of the Year as well as the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.

Also awarded were four positional honours created and managed by the Basketball Hall of Fame: Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.

The show also highlighted the previously announced 2016 Wooden Legends of Coaching Award to Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith. Smith, along with Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger, are the only two coaches in history to lead five different schools to the NCAA Tournament.