Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Awarded forthe most outstanding basketball player in the Missouri Valley Conference
CountryUnited States
History
First award1969
Most recentTucker DeVries, Drake

The Larry Bird Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Missouri Valley Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1968–69 season. It was renamed to honor Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who played at Indiana State from 1977 to 1979 and led the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA Championship game. Bird won every major player of the year award (including the Naismith and Wooden awards) in 1979.

Creighton and Drake have the most all-time winners with seven, but Creighton left the conference in July 2013 to join the reconfigured Big East Conference. Four current conference members have not had a winner, but three of them (Belmont, Murray State, and UIC) played their first MVC seasons in 2022–23, and the other (Valparaiso) played its first MVC season in 2017–18.

There have never been any ties for the player of the year, but there have been 10 repeat winners in the award's history. Of the repeat winners, Fred VanVleet of Wichita State (2014 and 2016) and A. J. Green of Northern Iowa (2020, 2022) won in non-consecutive years.

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 MVC Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Jim Ard, Cincinnati, 1970
Jeff Halliburton, Drake, 1971
Roger Phegley, Bradley, 1977
Larry Bird, Indiana State, 1978 and 1979
Paul Pressey, Tulsa, 1982
Jim Les, Bradley, 1986
Anthony Parker, Bradley, 1996
Marcus Wilson, Evansville, 1999
Kyle Korver, Creighton, 2002 and 2003
Paul Miller, Wichita State, 2006
Adam Koch, Northern Iowa, 2010
Kyle Weems, Missouri State, 2011
Doug McDermott, Creighton, 2012 and 2013
Fred VanVleet, Wichita State, 2014 and 2016
Seth Tuttle, Northern Iowa, 2015
Marques Townes, Loyola, 2019
A. J. Green, Northern Iowa, 2020 and 2022
Tucker DeVries, Drake, 2023 and 2024
Season Player School Position Class Reference
1968–69 Bingo Smith Tulsa SF Senior [1]
1969–70 Jim Ard Cincinnati C Senior [2]
1970–71 Jeff Halliburton Drake SF Senior [3]
1971–72 Larry Finch Memphis G Junior [4]
1972–73 Larry Kenon Memphis PF Junior [5]
1973–74 Junior Bridgeman Louisville SF Junior [6]
1974–75 Junior Bridgeman (2) Louisville SF Senior [7]
1975–76 Mike Glenn Southern Illinois PG Junior [8]
1976–77 Roger Phegley Bradley SG Junior [9]
1977–78 Larry Bird Indiana State SF Junior [10]
1978–79 Larry Bird* (2) Indiana State SF Senior [11]
1979–80 Lewis Lloyd Drake SF / SG Junior [12]
1980–81 Lewis Lloyd (2) Drake SF / SG Senior [13]
1981–82 Paul Pressey Tulsa PG / F Senior [14]
1982–83 Antoine Carr Wichita State C Senior [14]
1983–84 Xavier McDaniel Wichita State PF Junior [15]
1984–85 Xavier McDaniel (2) Wichita State PF Senior [16]
1985–86 Jim Les Bradley PG Senior [17]
1986–87 Hersey Hawkins Bradley SG Junior [18]
1987–88 Hersey Hawkins* (2) Bradley SG Senior [19]
1988–89 Anthony Manuel Bradley PG Senior [20]
1989–90 Bob Harstad Creighton PF Junior [21]
1990–91 Chad Gallagher Creighton C Senior [22]
1991–92 Ashraf Amaya Southern Illinois PF Junior [23]
1992–93 Curt Smith Drake PG Junior [24]
1993–94 Gary Collier Tulsa SF Senior [25]
1994–95 Chris Carr Southern Illinois SG Junior [26]
1995–96 Anthony Parker Bradley SG / SF Junior [27]
1996–97 Jason Daisy Northern Iowa PG Senior [28]
1997–98 Rico Hill Illinois State F Senior [29]
1998–99 Marcus Wilson Evansville SG / PG Senior [30]
1999–00 Nate Green Indiana State SF Senior [31]
2000–01 Tarise Bryson Illinois State PG Junior [32]
2001–02 Kyle Korver Creighton SF / SG Junior [33]
2002–03 Kyle Korver (2) Creighton SF / SG Senior [33]
2003–04 Darren Brooks Southern Illinois G Junior [34]
2004–05 Darren Brooks (2) Southern Illinois G Senior [34]
2005–06 Paul Miller Wichita State C Senior [35]
2006–07 Jamaal Tatum Southern Illinois SG Senior [36]
2007–08 Adam Emmenecker Drake PG Senior [37]
2008–09 Booker Woodfox Creighton SG Senior [38]
2009–10 Adam Koch Northern Iowa PF Senior [39]
2010–11 Kyle Weems Missouri State SF Junior [40]
2011–12 Doug McDermott Creighton SF / PF Sophomore [41]
2012–13 Doug McDermott (2) Creighton SF / PF Junior [41]
2013–14 Fred VanVleet Wichita State PG Sophomore [42]
2014–15 Seth Tuttle Northern Iowa PF Senior [43]
2015–16 Fred VanVleet (2) Wichita State PG Senior [44]
2016–17 Paris Lee Illinois State PG Senior [45]
2017–18 Clayton Custer Loyola PG Junior [46]
2018–19 Marques Townes Loyola SG Senior [47]
2019–20 A. J. Green Northern Iowa PG Sophomore [48]
2020–21 Cameron Krutwig Loyola C Senior [49]
2021–22 A. J. Green (2) Northern Iowa PG Junior [50]
2022–23 Tucker DeVries Drake SG / SF Sophomore [51]
2023–24 Tucker DeVries (2) Drake SG / SF Junior [52]

Winners by school

School (year joined) Winners Years
Creighton (1977)[a] 7 1990, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2013
Drake (1907) 7 1971, 1980, 1981, 1993, 2008, 2023, 2024
Bradley (1948) 6 1977, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1996
Southern Illinois (1975) 6 1976, 1992, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2007
Wichita State (1945)[b] 6 1983, 1984, 1985, 2006, 2014, 2016
Northern Iowa (1991) 5 1997, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2022
Illinois State (1981) 3 1998, 2001, 2017
Indiana State (1977) 3 1978, 1979, 2000
Loyola (2013)[c] 3 2018, 2019, 2021
Tulsa (1935)[d] 3 1969, 1982, 1994
Louisville (1963)[e] 2 1974, 1975
Memphis (1968)[f] 2 1972, 1973
Cincinnati (1957)[g] 1 1970
Evansville (1994) 1 1999
Missouri State (1990) 1 2011
Belmont (2022) 0 —
Murray State (2022) 0 —
UIC (2022) 0 —
Valparaiso (2017) 0 —
  1. ^ Creighton University left in 2013 to join the Big East Conference.
  2. ^ Wichita State University left in 2017 to join the American Athletic Conference (The American).
  3. ^ Loyola University Chicago left in 2022 to join the Atlantic 10 Conference.
  4. ^ The University of Tulsa left in 1996 to join the Western Athletic Conference, and is now in The American.
  5. ^ The University of Louisville left in 1975 to become a founding member of the Metro Conference, and is now in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  6. ^ The University of Memphis left in 1973 and briefly went independent before becoming a founding member of the Metro Conference. The school is now in The American.
  7. ^ The University of Cincinnati left in 1970 to go independent, and is now in the Big 12 Conference.

References

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