Iowa’s Garza elected top AP men’s player — in a landslide
Luka Garza knew what everyone expected before returning for a final run as Iowa’s unquestioned star.
Pressure? Garza felt it, all right, enough to know his mental health required the same attention as his game.
“I needed meditation to lean on, to be able to mainly just go out there and be myself and not worry about anything else,” Garza said.
That best explains why the 6-foot-11, 265-pound senior is The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the year after finishing second last season. He was the runaway choice for the award announced Thursday, receiving 50 of 63 votes from AP Top 25 voters.
Ayo Dosunmu, who led Illinois to the Big Ten Tournament
title and a No. 1 NCAA seed, was second with six votes, followed by Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham with three. Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert and Baylor’s Jared Butler each earned two votes.
Garza ranked second nationally by averaging 24.1 points with 8.7 rebounds. He improved shooting percentages across the board — including going from 36% on 3-pointers last year to 44% — and his assist-to-turnover ratio after working on passing ahead of double- and triple-teams.
Garza led the Hawkeyes to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, then accounted for nearly half their points (36 of 80) in a second-round upset loss to Oregon.
Sure, he had the big numbers and helped the Hawkeyes spend nearly the entire season in the top 10. But Garza figures the daily ritual of resetting his mind while focusing on something as simple as his breathing led to all of that — particularly in a season altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You had to be quarantined, going to the gym, going home,” Garza said. “There’s no distraction. If you play a bad game, that’s all you’re thinking about.”
Garza was second to Dayton’s Obi Toppin for last year’s award.