Choosing Player of the Year for Every Conference in 2024-25 Men's College Basketball
Selection Sunday for the 2025 men's NCAA tournament is barely a week away, which means we are fully entrenched in the most confusing portion of the season: Some leagues are knee-deep in their conference tournaments while others are still wrapping up their regular seasons.
This also means that some leagues have already declared a Conference Player of the Year while others won't be doing so for another few days.
But rather than the slow burn of 31 POY announcements spread out over many days, here's all of them all at once.
No, these aren't the official POYs. (Well, some of them are, and where that is the case, we'll note the actual winner with a little '^' mark and whether or not we agree with the decision.) These are simply our picks for each league.
But most of them will be the winners.
We'll start with the 20 conferences whose POY will only be participating in the NCAA tournament if they first win their conference tournament. Those 20 leagues are broken into four groups of five and presented in alphabetical order.
After that, it's five potential multi-bid leagues, followed by six definite multi-bid leagues, with more real estate dedicated to those bigger conferences. (We'll also venture a guess at the full All-Conference first team for each of those six leagues.)
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play Thursday.
The 20 Definite One-Bid Leagues (1 of 4)
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America East: Earl Timberlake, Bryant—Remember this former member of both Miami and Memphis? Timberlake is in year No. 3 at Bryant, presently averaging around 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks per game. The Bulldogs will have their work cut out for them in what figures to be the AE championship showdown with red-hot Vermont, but Timberlake could be the catalyst in a monumental win.
^Atlantic Sun: Jacob Ognacevic, Lipscomb—After missing the entire 2023-24 campaign with a bone bruise in his knee, "J.O." came back better than ever, grabbing more rebounds, hitting more three-pointers and averaging north of 20 points per game for a Lipscomb squad with some serious "13 over 4" upset potential.
Big Sky: Trent McLaughlin, Northern Arizona—It might go to Northern Colorado's Langston Reynolds or Idaho State's Dylan Darling for their contributions to teams that at least posted a winning record in conference play. Save for Villanova's Eric Dixon, though, no one in the country has averaged more points per game than McLaughlin, who has put up 35 on three occasions in the past 30 days.
^Big South: Taje' Kelly, Charleston Southern—High Point won this league by a three-game margin, but did so with a trio of guys who averaged right around 14 points per game. But going with Kelly for putting up big numbers on a team that went 10-21 overall was certainly a decision. Jordan Marsh, on the other hand, carried UNC Asheville to 20 wins, leading the team in each of points (19.2), assists (3.6) and steals (2.0). Should've been him.
Coastal Athletic: Abdi Bashir Jr., Monmouth—The Hawks are 12-19 overall, but did post a winning record in league play thanks to the nation's leader in made three-pointers. Speaking of triples, Bashir more than tripled his scoring average from last season while making his 121 three-pointers. If they can steal the auto bid, say hello to Jack Gohlke 2.0.
The 20 Definite One-Bid Leagues (2 of 4)
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Conference USA: Jaron Pierre Jr., Jacksonville State—This leader of the Gamecocks has scored at least 20 points on 21 occasions, including a 36-point gem last month in which he shot 10-for-16 from three-point range. He has scored more than twice as many points as his closest teammate, but also leads the team in assists by a wide margin. Sure would be fun to see him in the dance.
^Horizon League: Alvaro Folgueiras, Robert Morris—Bobby Mo came out of nowhere to win this league, going 13-1 over its final 14 games. During that stretch, Folgueiras had five double-doubles, including a 35-point explosion at Northern Kentucky. He led the Colonials in points, rebounds and steals, while ranking second in assists and blocks, shooting 42 percent from downtown in the process.
Ivy League: Nick Townsend, Yale—The Ivy League POY almost has to come from one-loss Yale. It's really just a question of whether you want John Poulakidas at 18.9 PPG, Bez Mbeng at 13.4 PPG and 5.9 APG or Nick Townsend at 15.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG and 3.5 APG. We're rolling with Townsend, but, honestly, pick your poison. Most importantly, watch out for Yale, which pulled off first-round upsets each of the last two times it was either a No. 12 or No. 13 seed.
Metro Atlantic: Adam Clark, Merrimack—Heading into Thursday's showdown with Marist, "Budd" Clark was averaging 20.2 points, 6.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 steals through 19 MAAC games. He racked up eight steals in just 26 minutes played against Quinnipiac on Sunday. The 5'10" lead guard is electric, and just might propel the Warriors to a MAAC title next week.
Mid-American: Nate Johnson, Akron—As with Yale, there's really no question which team needs to be represented here, as Akron has just one league loss with one game to go. Could go with Tavari Johnson (13.0 PPG, 4.0 APG, 91% FT), but it's most likely going to be Johnson at 13.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.4 APG and 1.9 SPG. This team goes nine deep no problem, though.
The 20 Definite One-Bid Leagues (3 of 4)
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Mid-Eastern Athletic: Brian Moore Jr., Norfolk State—With an honorable mention to Howard's Blake Harper who averaged just a shade under 20 points per game as a true freshman, Moore was only one point per game behind him for a Norfolk State team that has been better than Howard. He also went for 30 to Harper's 15 in the head-to-head showdown in late January.
^Northeast: Jordan Jones, Central Connecticut—CCSU won this league by a two-game margin and entered the NEC tournament with seven more overall wins than the next-closest team. FDU's Terrence Brown had a great season, but POY ought to (and did) go to the Blue Devils' veteran point guard.
^Ohio Valley: Ray'Sean Taylor, SIU Edwardsville—SEMO won the OVC regular-season crown behind the strength of its dynamic duo of Teddy Washington and Rob Martin, but Taylor was Mr. Everything for second-place SIUE, averaging better than 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals per game in league play.
^Patriot League: Noah Williamson, Bucknell—This one was a tough call between Williamson and American's Matt Rogers, who starred for teams that finished tied atop the standings. Personally, would've gone with Rogers as somewhat of a career achievement award, as he spent the past five seasons there and they have gotten a bit better with each passing season. But Williamson has been a force, averaging better than 20 points per game in league play.
^Sun Belt: Tayton Conerway, Troy—It's a tad bit surprising they went with Conerway instead of App State's Myles Tate, but perhaps it's as simple as Troy being one of the teams that finished in a four-way tie for the regular-season crown while Tate was not. Conerway did have one heck of a season, though, on both ends of the floor, averaging 13.7 PPG, 5.0 APG and 3.0 SPG. Hard to argue with that choice.
The 20 Definite One-Bid Leagues (4 of 4)
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^Southern: Quimari Peterson, East Tennessee State—Peterson was already one of ETSU's top assets last year, but he came back this season as a drastically improved three-point shooter. We're talking going from 29 percent on 3.8 attempts per game to 43 percent on 6.3 attempts per game, and he led the conference in scoring by a substantial margin because of it.
Southland: Javohn Garcia, McNeese—The Cowboys don't have a go-to guy, all seven of the regulars in their rotation averaging from 7.4 to 12.8 points per game. But they've also had first place in this conference wrapped up pretty much since before the season started, so one of those regulars is most likely going to win.
^Summit: Marquel Sutton, Omaha—With all due respect to the unexpected regular season champs of the Summit League, this was by far the most surprising POY announcement thus far. South Dakota State's Oscar Cluff is leading the nation in player efficiency rating, tallying an Oscar Tshiebwe-like 21 double-doubles. But, yes, Sutton is deserving, and has been ridiculously good lately, averaging 23.2 points over his last 11 games, scoring at least 20 in all but one of them. (The lesson, as always, is that defense is a foreign concept in the Summit League.)
Southwestern Athletic: Trey Thomas, Bethune-Cookman—He was hit or miss for the first two months while BCU played just one of its first 16 games at home. But since mid-January, Thomas is averaging 21.5 points per game for a Wildcats team that has turned things around in pursuit of its first ever trip to the NCAA tournament.
Western Athletic: Dominick Nelson, Utah Valley—The preseason expectation here was certainly Grand Canyon's Tyon Grant-Foster, as he won it last year. However, he has missed a handful of games and hasn't been anywhere near as impactful as last year, opening the door for Utah Valley to likely win the league. And at just a shade under 15 PPG, Nelson has been the Wolverines' brightest star.
The 5 Plausible Multi-Bid Leagues
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American Athletic: PJ Haggerty, Memphis—With a very honorable mention to UAB's Yaxel Lendeborg averaging 17.3 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.8 BPG and 1.6 SPG, there's really no debate here. Memphis has been the team to beat all year in the AAC, with Haggerty ranking among the national leaders in scoring average. He's also a great distributor, the Tigers' great first line of defense and quite possibly a first-team All-American.
Atlantic 10: Max Shulga, VCU—Each half of the Shulga and Joe Bamisile dynamic duo is averaging better than 15 points per game, but it's Shulga who is the heart and soul of a Rams team that has strangely flown pretty far below the national radar. He leads VCU in assists, steals and three-point percentage.
Big West: Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, UC San Diego—If the Tritons have some March Madness magic up their sleeves, the star who everyone falls in love with would probably be three-point specialist Tyler McGhie. But it's Tait-Jones who leads this mid-major darling in each of points, rebounds and assists and who deserves to be named Big West POY.
^Missouri Valley: Bennett Stirtz, Drake—Stirtz has played darn near every minute of every game for the three-loss Bulldogs, averaging nearly 19 points, nearly six assists and better than two steals per game. Those averages are made even more impressive by the fact that Drake plays at the slowest pace in the nation.
^West Coast: Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary's—The WCC is surely going to be a multi-bid league and possibly even a three-bid conference. But its regular season is already finished and its all-conference team announced, so no sense in having a stand-alone WCC section. They made the right call here, though. Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard had sensational seasons for Gonzaga, but Marciulionis was the star of the 17-1 Gaels team who averaged better than 14 points and six assists per game.
Atlantic Coast Conference
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ACC POY: Cooper Flagg, Duke (19.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.6 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 38% 3PT)
Can't imagine there's much of a debate to be found here. Even the most diehard Clemson and Louisville fans have to be able to acknowledge that Flagg is the obvious pick here.
He has been sensational for the best team in the conference, if not the best team in the nation. He leads Duke in all five per-game categories, and he has only gotten better as the season progressed, blossoming from an already super-skilled player into a wildly efficient one.
Per Sports Reference, Flagg has a 38.0 PER and a .382 win shares per 40 minutes ratio in ACC play, the latter of which is just ludicrous. Zach Edey had a slightly higher PER in each of the past two seasons, but with WS/40 marks of .325 and .336. Likewise, Zion Williamson was a bit higher on PER (40.8) and a bit behind in WS/40 (.335).
Whether Flagg can win the national championship that eluded Edey, Williamson and so many Wooden Award winners before him remains to be seen. But if he's not the unanimous ACC POY, there are some serious haters with ballots.
The rest of the All-ACC First Team:
Chucky Hepburn, Louisville
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson
Kon Knueppel, Duke
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford
Big 12 Conference
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B12 POY: Milos Uzan, Houston (10.9 PPG, 4.5 APG, 3.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 42% 3PT)
While the ACC race for POY is as open and shut as it gets, the Big 12's is just plain wide open.
JT Toppin has been a force of nature for Texas Tech, particularly over the past four weeks. He might be an All-American at this point.
A lot has gone wrong for Kansas this season, but Hunter Dickinson has been a pretty consistent cog in the paint and a player who has been in the top five of the KenPom Player of the Year rankings all season long.
Javon Small is quite the candidate, too, as he has been the heart, soul, head, shoulders, knees and toes of a likely tournament-bound West Virginia team.
But Houston has a four-game lead in this league, and you'd need a damn good reason to not give the Player of the Year award to a guy from a team that runs away with the regular season crown.
The only real question is which Cougar is most deserving, as there are definite cases for leading scorer LJ Cryer and veteran frontcourt workhorse J'Wan Roberts.
However, it was when Milos Uzan turned a corner in mid-January that this team truly joined Auburn and Duke in the conversation about championship favorites. He has averaged 13.6 points and 4.0 assists over his last 13 games, shooting 50 percent from three-point range while emerging as the leader of this squad.
The rest of the All-B12 First Team:
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
JT Toppin, Texas Tech
Javon Small, West Virginia
Norchad Omier, Baylor
Big East Conference
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BE POY: RJ Luis, St. John's (17.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 30% 3PT)
Much like the Big 12, plenty of great options among teams who didn't win the Big East by a comfortable margin.
Kam Jones looked like the blatantly obvious pick here until February began and Marquette lost five of its last nine games. He has continued to mostly deliver at a high level, scoring in double figures in every game this season. It just doesn't pack the same punch now that the Golden Eagles are on the brink of possibly landing the No. 5 seed in the Big East tournament.
Then there's Eric Dixon, leading the nation in scoring, but for a Villanova team that is locked in as the Big East's No. 6 seed and in an "auto bid or bust" predicament for the NCAA tournament. It's not his fault that no one else on the roster felt like showing up for some of those losses, but it does hurt his case here.
Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner is second in the conference in scoring while leading the league in both rebounds and blocks. He should at least be a second-team All-American, if not first-team.
But St. John's is 15-1 this calendar year, has a three-game lead with one game to go and has a darn fine star player in RJ Luis who always seems to rise to the occasion.
Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond have also been huge for the Red Storm, but Luis is up to 19.2 PPG and 7.9 RPG during this 15-1 stretch. And, don't look now, but after all the talk about St. John's being a dumpster fire from the perimeter, Luis has hit 50 percent of his three-point attempts in each of the last four games.
The rest of the All-BE First Team:
Kam Jones, Marquette
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Steven Ashworth, Creighton
Big Ten Conference
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B1G POY: Braden Smith, Purdue (16.3 PPG, 8.7 APG, 4.5 RPG, 2.4 SPG, 41% 3PT)
And welcome back to the "easy decisions" department.
Braden Smith is a no-brainer first-team All-American. He never quite got into the mix alongside Cooper Flagg and Johni Broome for the Wooden Award, but he is the Houston to their Duke and Auburn, clearly the third-best option that isn't particularly considered as a first or second option.
At a national level, only Ryan Nembhard is averaging more assists per game than Smith. He's also top 10 in the nation in total steals, and only slightly behind Mississippi State's Cameron Matthews for the title of greatest major conference thief. He's leading the Big Ten in both categories.
Even with all the assists, Smith is also one of the top three-point shooters in the conference. Only Ohio State's John Mobley Jr. (74) has made more triples this season than Smith's 73.
Beyond the numbers, he's simply the sine qua non of a three-man team that has somehow won 21 games and could be a win over Illinois on Friday away from securing a double-bye in the "your guess at who wins it is as good as ours" Big Ten tournament.
Smith isn't the best player in the nation, but one could argue he is the most valuable player in the nation.
The rest of the All-B1G First Team:
John Tonje, Wisconsin
Derik Queen, Maryland
Brice Williams, Nebraska
Danny Wolf, Michigan
Mountain West Conference
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MWC POY: Donovan Dent, New Mexico (20.4 PPG, 6.5 APG, 2.4 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 38% 3PT)
If the five major conferences are the five vowels, the Mountain West is the "and sometimes Y" of the group. And if this year's woeful ACC gets its own section, might as well let the MWC have one, too.
Per usual, this league is loaded with quality veteran leaders. Not only is our all-MWC first team made up of a junior, two seniors and two fifth-year seniors, but all of the close calls seem to be old enough to run for office.
It's the junior who leads the way, though, in New Mexico's Donovan Dent.
Dent is No. 1 in the conference in scoring by a margin of 2.5 PPG. He's also No. 2 in assists, top 10 in the steals department and, somehow, 10th in the league in blocks as a 6'2" point guard.
Incredibly, New Mexico lost Jaelen House (out of eligibility), JT Toppin (dominating at Texas Tech) and Jamal Mashburn Jr. (dominating at Temple, when healthy) from last year's team, but might be even better this year with Dent as the singular leader of the bunch.
Assuming the Lobos make the NCAA tournament again, expect more than the six points and one assist that he had in 33 minutes played in last year's immediate exit. Dent has had at least 11 points and multiple assists in every game this season.
The rest of the All-MWC First Team:
Nique Clifford, Colorado State
Tyson Degenhart, Boise State
Ian Martinez, Utah State
Nick Boyd, San Diego State
Southeastern Conference
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SEC POY: Johni Broome, Auburn (18.0 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.4 BPG, 29% 3PT)
As a rule of thumb, it is dumb when leagues announce a 10-player all-conference first-team.
But if any league deserves to go the 10-man first-team route, it's this year's SEC.
Beyond our actual picks for the five-man first team, Georgia's Asa Newell and South Carolina's Collin Murray-Boyles are both going to be lottery picks. Josh Hubbard has been sensational for Mississippi State, ranking third in the league in scoring. Missouri's Caleb Grill has turned into a walking inferno from three-point range. And all four teams with NCAA tournament No. 1 seed aspirations have at least a second player worthy of consideration.
For SEC Player of the Year, though, not a particularly tough decision.
Johni Broome has been limping to the finish line with a pair of duds to open March, but only after he entered the month averaging 20.2 PPG and 11.5 RPG over his previous 10 games.
We can give him a mulligan for a couple of off nights on the road against Kentucky and Texas A&M.
Broome has 17 double-doubles on the year, including five games with at least 21 points and 16 rebounds.
There's nothing magical about those thresholds, but five such games in a season is impressive. He also had five or more assists and three or more blocks in three of those games, and 21-16-5-3 is a line that neither Zach Edey nor Oscar Tshiebwe ever achieved in their careers. That's more of a Tim Duncan sort of performance that Broome has had on a semi-regular basis for the SEC regular-season champions.
The rest of the All-SEC First Team:
Mark Sears, Alabama
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Tre Johnson, Texas
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