Zion Williamson of Duke is named Player of the Year after averaging 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds.
Blue Devils’ star gets 59 of 64 1st-place votes to capture the top honor
Duke freshman Zion Williamson is The Associated Press men’s college basketball player of the year.
The 6-foot-7, 285-pound Williamson was the runaway choice, claiming 59 of 64 votes from AP Top 25 voters in ballots submitted before the NCA A Tournament in results released Friday.
Freshman teammate RJ Barrett earned two votes as a fellow AP first-team All-american. Virginia’s De’andre Hunter, Michigan State’s Cassius Winston and Murray State’s Ja Morant each earned one vote.
In a likely one-year college stop for a possible top overall NBA draft pick, the 18-year-old Williamson averaged 22.6 points and 8.9 rebounds.
Williamson’s Blue Devils lost to Michigan State in the Elite Eight, but he says he has no regrets and calls the season “the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.” Georgia State: The school hired former Siena coach and current Tennessee assistant Rob Lanier to replace Ron Hunter as coach. Lanier was associate head coach for the Vols the past four seasons following four years with the same title on coach Rick Barnes’ staff at Texas. Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Lanier is a cousin of NBA great Bob Lanier. Georgia State President Mark Becker said in a statement Friday that Lanier will “take Georgia State basketball to the next level.” The Panthers lost to Houston in the first round of this year’s tournament. Hunter led Georgia State to three NCAA appearances before he was hired to lead the Tulane program. Lanier had a record of 58-70 with one NCAA Tournament and one NIT appearance in four years as Siena’s coach from 2001-05. Vanderbilt: A person familiar with the situation says the school has hired Memphis assistant and former NBA All-star Jerry Stackhouse as its basketball coach. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because Vanderbilt has not commented on its coaching search. Stackhouse succeeds Bryce Drew, who was fired March 22 after going 40-59 in three seasons. Stackhouse, an 18-year NBA veteran and two-time All-star, was considered in NBA coaching searches last year by Toronto, New York, Charlotte and Orlando after his success coaching the Raptors’ NBA G League team. Nebraska: New basketball coach Fred Hoiberg will be required to pay the university between $5 million and $11 million if he leaves to take a college coaching job in the first five years of his contract. The terms of Hoiberg’s agreement are in a memorandum of understanding released Friday. His signed contract was not available. Hoiberg will be paid $2.5 million in the first year of his seven-year, $25 million contract. That rises to $3 million next year and to $3.5 million for each of the following five years.
LSU: Junior guard Skyler Mays says he is planning to leave the Tigers and enter this summer’s NBA draft. Mays becomes the third starter from the Southeastern Conference regularseason champions to announce plans to leave the team before eligibility is up, joining sophomore point guard Tremont Waters and freshman forward Naz Reid.
All-star Game: James Palmer of Nebraska scored 21 points, Ahmad Caver of Old Dominion had 12 points, five rebounds and nine assists and the East beat the West 110-105 in the Reese’s College All-star game on Friday night. The East went on a 17-3 run, capped by Georgetown center Jessie Govan’s three-point play, early in the second half to take a 69-61 lead. The East was ahead by 15 points before Chris Clemons of Campbell took over, scoring nine points during a 14-4 run to get the West within 93-88. But the East made seven free throws in the final 1:05 to keep a lead of at least three points the rest of the way. Caver was named the most valuable player of the East. Clemons, who is third on the NCAA scoring list at 3,225 career points, scored 25 in being named the most valuable player for the West.
Kansas: Forward K.J. Lawson says he plans to transfer for the second time, this time as a graduate transfer. That would leave him with two years of eligibility remaining.