Skip to content
Sports
Link copied to clipboard

College Basketball: Kaminsky voted nation's best

INDIANAPOLIS - Frank Kaminsky, the 7-footer who anchored Wisconsin's run to a second straight Final Four, is the runaway choice as the Associated Press' player of the year.

INDIANAPOLIS - Frank Kaminsky, the 7-footer who anchored Wisconsin's run to a second straight Final Four, is the runaway choice as the Associated Press' player of the year.

Kaminsky averaged 18.7 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 54.9 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from three-point range as the Badgers ran up a 35-3 record and won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.

"Frank the Tank"' is the first Wisconsin player to win the award, which began in 1961. He is the third from the Big Ten in the last six seasons, joining Ohio State's Evan Turner in 2010 and Michigan's Trey Burke in 2013.

Kaminsky received 58 votes Friday from the 65-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor received five votes and Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein and Notre Dame's Jerian Grant had one each.

Calipari honored

John Calipari, whose Kentucky team is the first in 24 years to reach the Final Four undefeated, has been selected the AP coach of the year.

The Wildcats were dominant in winning the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles. They were ranked No. 1 the whole season.

Calipari is the third Kentucky coach to win the award, which started in 1967. Eddie Sutton won in 1986 and Tubby Smith in 2003. Calipari received 40 votes Friday from the 65-member national media panel that picks the weekly Top 25.