Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given to the Ohio Valley Conference's (OVC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1962–63 season.

Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding basketball player in the Ohio Valley Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	1963
Most recent	Mark Freeman, Morehead State

Fifteen players in OVC history have claimed more than one player of the year award, the most recent of whom was Terry Taylor in 2020 and 2021. Among the repeat winners, only one—Clem Haskins of Western Kentucky—has been a three-time player of the year. Haskins achieved the feat from 1965 through 1967.

Both of the schools with the most awards left the OVC in 2022. Murray State, which has dominated the award's selection, with its players having received the award 21 times (which at the Racers' departure was equal to the total of the next three programs on the list), joined the Missouri Valley Conference. Second-place Austin Peay, with eight awards, joined the ASUN Conference. Among schools remaining in the OVC after 2022, Morehead State has the most awards with seven. Four current OVC members have yet to produce a winner, but three (Lindenwood, Little Rock, Southern Indiana) played their first OVC seasons in 2022–23; the only pre-2022 member without a winner is SIU Edwardsville. Western Illinois will play its first OVC season in 2023–24.

Four ties have occurred for player of the year: 1968, 1976, 1983 and 2013. No OVC Men's Basketball Player of the Year has ever been selected as any national player of the year.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national Player of the Year award: Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79) UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present)
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the OVC Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

 

Harold Sergent of Morehead State won the first award in 1963.

 

Clem Haskins is the only three-time winner of the award.

 

Jim McDaniels of Western Kentucky won in 1970 and 1971.

 

Bud Eley took home player of the year in 1999 while at Southeast Missouri State.

 

Isaiah Canaan won in 2012 and 2013.

 

Terry Taylor won in 2020 and 2021.

Season	Player	School	Position	Class
1962–63	Harold Sergent	Morehead State	PG	Sophomore
1963–64	Jim Jennings	Murray State	F	Senior
1964–65	Clem Haskins	Western Kentucky	SG	Sophomore
1965–66	Clem Haskins (2)	Western Kentucky	SG	Junior
1966–67	Clem Haskins (3)	Western Kentucky	SG	Senior
1967–68^†	Wayne Chapman	Western Kentucky	SG / SF	Senior
	Skeeter Swift	East Tennessee State	G	Junior
1968–69	Claude Virden	Murray State	SF	Sophomore
1969–70	Jim McDaniels	Western Kentucky	C	Junior
1970–71	Jim McDaniels (2)	Western Kentucky	C	Senior
1971–72	Les Taylor	Murray State	SF	Junior
1972–73	Les Taylor (2)	Murray State	SF	Senior
1973–74	Fly Williams	Austin Peay	PG	Sophomore
1974–75	George Sorrell	Middle Tennessee	PF	Senior
1975–76^†	Johnny Britt	Western Kentucky	PG	Senior
	Tim Sisneros	Middle Tennessee	C	Senior
1976–77	Otis Howard	Austin Peay	SF	Junior
1977–78	Otis Howard (2)	Austin Peay	SF	Senior
1978–79	James Tillman	Eastern Kentucky	F	Junior
1979–80	Gary Hooker	Murray State	PF	Senior
1980–81	Jerry Beck	Middle Tennessee	PF	Junior
1981–82	Jerry Beck (2)	Middle Tennessee	PF	Senior
1982–83^†	Glen Green	Murray State	SF	Senior
	Joe Jakubick	Akron	SG	Junior
1983–84	Joe Jakubick (2)	Akron	SG	Senior
1984–85	Stephen Kite	Tennessee Tech	F	Junior
1985–86	Marcel Boyce	Akron	SF	Senior
1986–87	Bob McCann	Morehead State	PF	Senior
1987–88	Jeff Martin	Murray State	SG	Junior
1988–89	Jeff Martin (2)	Murray State	SG	Senior
1989–90	Popeye Jones	Murray State	PF	Sophomore
1990–91	Popeye Jones (2)	Murray State	PF	Junior
1991–92	Brett Roberts	Morehead State	SF	Senior
1992–93	Carlos Rogers	Tennessee State	C	Junior
1993–94	Carlos Rogers (2)	Tennessee State	C	Senior
1994–95	Marcus Brown	Murray State	SG	Junior
1995–96	Marcus Brown (2)	Murray State	SG	Senior
1996–97	Bubba Wells	Austin Peay	SF	Senior
1997–98	De'Teri Mayes	Murray State	PG / SG	Senior
1998–99	Bud Eley	Southeast Missouri State	C	Senior
1999–00	Aubrey Reese	Murray State	PG	Senior
2000–01	Trenton Hassell	Austin Peay	SF / SG	Junior
2001–02	Henry Domercant	Eastern Illinois	SG	Junior
2002–03	Ricky Minard	Morehead State	PG / SG	Junior
2003–04	Cuthbert Victor	Murray State	SF	Senior
2004–05	Willie Jenkins	Tennessee Tech	C / PF	Senior
2005–06	J. Robert Merritt	Samford	PF	Senior
2006–07	Drake Reed	Austin Peay	SF	Sophomore
2007–08	Lester Hudson	Tennessee–Martin	PG	Junior
2008–09	Lester Hudson (2)	Tennessee–Martin	PG	Senior
2009–10	Kenneth Faried	Morehead State	PF / C	Junior
2010–11	Kenneth Faried (2)	Morehead State	PF / C	Senior
2011–12	Isaiah Canaan^[1]	Murray State	PG / SG	Junior
2012–13^†	Isaiah Canaan (2)^[2]	Murray State	PG / SG	Senior
	Ian Clark^[2]	Belmont	SG	Senior
2013–14	J. J. Mann^[3]	Belmont	SF	Senior
2014–15	Cameron Payne	Murray State	PG	Sophomore
2015–16	Evan Bradds^[4]	Belmont	PF	Junior
2016–17	Evan Bradds (2)^[5]	Belmont	PF	Senior
2017–18	Jonathan Stark	Murray State	PG	Senior
2018–19	Ja Morant	Murray State	PG	Sophomore
2019–20	Terry Taylor	Austin Peay	PF	Junior
2020–21	Terry Taylor (2)^[6]	Austin Peay	PF	Senior
2021–22	KJ Williams^[7]	Murray State	PF	Senior
2022–23	Mark Freeman^[8]	Morehead State	PG	Senior

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Murray State (1948)^[a]	21	1964, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1980, 1983^†, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2012, 2013^†, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022
Austin Peay (1962)^[a]	8	1974, 1977, 1978, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2020, 2021
Morehead State (1948)	7	1963, 1987, 1992, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2023
Western Kentucky (1948)^[b]	7	1965, 1966, 1967, 1968^†, 1970, 1971, 1976^†
Belmont (2012)^[a]	4	2013^†, 2014, 2016, 2017
Middle Tennessee (1952)^[c]	4	1975, 1976^†, 1981, 1982
Akron (1980)^[d]	3	1983^†, 1984, 1986
Tennessee State (1986)	2	1993, 1994
Tennessee Tech (1949)	2	1985, 2005
UT Martin (1992)	2	2008, 2009
East Tennessee State (1958)^[e]	1	1968^†
Eastern Illinois (1996)	1	2002
Eastern Kentucky (1948)^[f]	1	1979
Samford (2003)^[g]	1	2006
Southeast Missouri State (1991)	1	1999
Jacksonville State (2003)^[f]	0	—
Lindenwood (2022)	0	—
Little Rock (2022)	0	—
SIU Edwardsville (2008)	0	—
Southern Indiana (2022)	0	—
Western Illinois (2023)	0	—

Footnotes

1. Austin Peay State University, Belmont University, and Murray State University left the OVC in 2022. Peay joined the ASUN Conference, and Belmont and Murray State joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
2. Western Kentucky University left in 1982 to join the Sun Belt Conference, and is now in Conference USA.
3. Middle Tennessee State University left in 2000 to join the Sun Belt Conference, and is now in C-USA.
4. The University of Akron left in 1987 to become an Independent. The Zips are now in the Mid-American Conference.
5. East Tennessee State University left in 1978 to join the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Buccaneers returned to the SoCon in 2014 after nine seasons in the ASUN Conference.
6. Eastern Kentucky University and Jacksonville State University left in 2021 to join the ASUN Conference. JSU moved to Conference USA in 2023.
7. Samford University left in 2008 to join the SoCon.

References

1. (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 28, 2012. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
2. "Murray State's Canaan, Belmont's Clark and Byrd Earn Top 2012-13 OVC Men's Basketball Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 5, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
3. "Belmont's Rick Byrd, J.J. Mann lead All-OVC basketball honors" (Press release). Tennessean.com. March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
4. "Belmont's Bradds, TSU's Ford and McCall, EKU's Mayo Earn Top 2015-16 OVC Men's Basketball Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
5. "Belmont's Bradds and Byrd, Tennessee State's McCall, Southeast Missouri's Mahoney Earn 2016-17 OVC Men's Basketball Top Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 28, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
6. "Austin Peay's Taylor, Morehead State's Broome and Spradlin, Belmont's Murphy Earn 2020-21 OVC Men's Basketball Top Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
7. "Murray State's Williams and McMahon, Morehead State's Broome and APSU's Hutchins-Everett Earn 2021-22 OVC Men's Basketball Top Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
8. "Morehead State's Freeman, Gross and Spradlin, EIU's Haffner Earn 2022-23 OVC Men's Basketball Top Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.

• . Individual Honors (pg. 4). Ohio Valley Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 2, 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2010.