USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award News

Duke forward Cameron Boozer met his opportunity and his hype this season as yet another outstanding freshman who became a consensus First Team All-American and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Boozer, who has guided the Blue Devils into the Sweet 16 this weekend, has been selected as the winner of both the 2025-26 Oscar Robertson Trophy as the Men's National Player of the Year and the 2025-26 Wayman Tisdale Award as the National Freshman Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Twenty-five standout first-year players have been named to the preseason watch list for the 2025-26 Wayman Tisdale Award by the board of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

A Duke freshman who played like a veteran this season in becoming a consensus First Team All-American and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, guard/forward Cooper Flagg has been selected as the winner of both the 2024-25 Oscar Robertson Trophy winner as the National Player of the Year and the 2024-25 Wayman Tisdale Award winner as the National Freshman Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Auburn forward Jabari Smith, a dynamic big man who turned the Tigers into one of the nation’s toughest matchups and helped lead the Tigers to the Southeastern Conference regular-season title, is the winner of this season’s Wayman Tisdale Award honoring the National Freshman Player of the Year based on voting by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Smith is Auburn’s first Tisdale Award winner and its first USBWA All-American since 1998-99.

For the first time since the 2003-04 season, the winners of the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Henry Iba Award come from the same school as Dayton sophomore forward Obi Toppin and head coach Anthony Grant headline this season's individual award winners in voting by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.