Mason III, Few take home AP’s top awards

GLENDALE, Ariz. — No piece of hardware could take Frank Mason III’s mind off what could have been.

The senior point guard from Kansas received the AP Player of the Year trophy Thursday at the Final Four. He was there without his teammates since the Jayhawks were eliminated in the regional final by Oregon.

“I’ve still been thinking about it. It’s been on my mind a lot,” Mason said when asked if he had gotten over that loss. “And I just have to move on to what’s next. And I just look at the bigger picture and focus on everything that I can control.”

Mason said he expected to be at the Final Four with his teammates and coaches.

Gonzaga Coach Mark Few, the AP Coach of the Year, has his team in Glendale as the Bulldogs make their first Final Four appearance.

“I don’t know that it really truly sinks in. And again, it’s a credit to this team that God has put me in position to lead,” Few said. “But again, it’s not really about me. I mean, this is about Gonzaga and this year.”

The Bulldogs, who are 36- 1 this season, are in the NCAA Tournament under Few for the 18th consecutive year.

Few, who has a career record of 502112, received 37 votes from the same 65- member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. Sean Miller of Arizona received eight votes while Chris Collins of Northwestern had seven and SMU’s Tim Jankovich had six.

For player of the year, Mason received 37 votes, well ahead of Josh Hart of Villanova, who got 16. Caleb Swanigan of Purdue had nine and Lonzo Ball of UCLA had three.