Some final love for Buddy
OU STAR HIELD WINS JOHN R. WOODEN, JERRY WEST AWARDS
Buddy Hield’s award tour made a stop in Southern California on Friday night.
Now, it’s time for it to head back to Oklahoma.
The star of OU’s Final Four team won the John R. Wooden Award at the College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles.
Hield won the award over Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine and Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis.
Hield became the second Sooners player to win the award, joining 2009 winner Blake Griffin.
The Wooden Award wasn’t the only trophy Hield picked up Friday night.
Hield also won the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
Hield returns to Oklahoma for the College Basketball Awards on Monday at the National Cowboy and Western History Museum.
There is no doubt about whether or not he’ll collect a trophy there. Hield has already been announced as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Award winner.
That was one of two player of the year awards Hield picked up at the Final Four. He also won the Naismith College Player of the Year Award in Houston, adding to The Sporting News award he received late in the season.
Valentine was Hield’s toughest competition for the awards, and Valentine did win The Associated Press and National Association of Basketball
Coaches player of the year awards.
But the awards that considered even part of the NCAA Tournament heavily favored Hield, who was dominant in the tournament.
Valentine’s Spartans were upset in the first round of the tournament, while Hield had plenty of chances to make an impression.
Hield averaged 25.2 points in OU’s five tournament games, scoring 36 points in a second-round win over VCU and 37 in an Elite Eight win over Oregon.
His postseason success was further validation of his decision to return for his senior season.
Hield was already the Big 12 Player of the Year but overhauled his game in the offseason. He improved his accuracy from behind the 3-point line and became better at getting to the basket.
The work was in response to the evaluation he received from NBA executives as he contemplated leaving after his junior year. He was labeled as a likely late first-round or early second-round pick.
Hield’s signature moment came Jan. 4 in a triple-overtime loss at Kansas. He scored 46 points and received a standing ovation from Jayhawks fans as he left the court following a postgame interview.
That was far from the only bigtime moment for Hield this season, though.
He hit a game-winning 3-pointer to beat Texas at home, scored 32 at LSU and scored 34 against Harvard on Christmas Day to help the Sooners win the Diamond Head Classic.
Hield averaged 25.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game this season, becoming Oklahoma’s second-leading career scorer and the all-time leading scorer in the Big 12.
“I never thought I was going to average 25 points per game,” Hield said earlier this week. “I thought I was going to average about 20 or 19, move up, but I really took a jump that a lot of kids don’t do.
“This happens very rarely. I just had to find a way to improve my game, and I got a lot better.”