Brunson, Wilson named AP players of the year
Villanova’s Jalen Brunson and A’ja Wilson of South Carolina were named the men’s and women’s college basketball players of the year by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Virginia’s Tony Bennett is AP’s men’s coach of the year and Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw is the women’s coach of the year.
Brunson, a 6-foot-3 junior, was presented with the award at the Final Four in San Antonio, where the Wildcats are chasing their second national championship in three seasons. He earned 36 of 65 votes from AP Top 25 writers with ballots submitted before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma freshman Trae Young was second with 15 votes after leading the country in scoring and assists. Arizona freshman Deandre Ayton earned seven votes, followed by Duke freshman Marvin Bagley III with four votes. All three have all declared for the NBA draft.
Brunson is averaging 19.2 points and shooting nearly 53 percent entering Saturday’s national Jalen Brunson is the first Villanova player to win the AP men’s player of the year award. semifinal against Kansas. He’s the first Villanova player to win the AP award.
Wilson is the first player from her school to win the award.
The 6-5 star received 22 votes from 32-member national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25.
Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn received five votes while Kalani Brown of Baylor, Asia Durr of Louisville, Megan Gustafson of Iowa, Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon and Victoria Vivians of Mississippi State each received one vote.
Wilson averaged 22.6
points and 11.8 rebounds this season.
Bennett was the runaway winner for the men’s coach award, receiving 50 of 65 votes.
The Cavaliers set a program single-season record for wins, dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference and reached No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time since the Ralph Sampson era.
This might be McGraw’s best coaching job. She lost four players over the course of the season to knee injuries and still has gone 32-3.
She received 10 votes from the 32-member national media panel.
Syracuse fivestar recruit Darius Bazley, who played in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Wednesday night, said on social media that he’s changed his mind about college and will head to the NBA’s development league.
Bazley, a 6-foot-9 forward from Cincinnati, de-committed from Ohio State in 2017 and signed with Syracuse in November.
Players can’t enter the NBA draft until age 19 or if they’ve been out of high school for one year. Players can play in the G-League as soon as they turn 18.
Michigan State forward Nick Ward, a Gahanna graduate, is submitting his name for the NBA draft but hasn’t hired an agent.
Ward can start attending workouts with teams April 24 and is eligible to compete in the NBA draft combine, if selected, from May 16-20 in Chicago. He then has 10 days to weigh his options and determine whether to keep his name in the draft or withdraw and return to school.
The 6-foot-8, 245pound Ward averaged 12.4 points and a teambest 7.1 rebounds this season.
Lamar Stevens scored 28 points, Josh Reaves had 18 and Tony Carr had 15 points and 14 assists to lead Penn State (26-13) past Utah 82-66 in the NIT championship game in New York.
Utah finished 23-12.