The Most Outstanding Player (MOP) is awarded to one player after the conclusion of the championship game of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

men's and women's basketball tournaments. The award is also often referred to as the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, referencing the conclusion of the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

semifinals and championship games. Accredited media members at the championship game vote on the award. The players that win the award are predominantly members of the championship team. However, ten men and one woman have won it as players on the losing squad. On the men's side,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

's Akeem Olajuwon was the last to do so in 1983, while

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

's Dawn Staley was the only woman to do so, in 1991. One player's award has been officially vacated (not recognized) by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, while another player's was vacated but later restored. In 1971, Howard Porter won the award despite Villanova losing to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in the championship game. Villanova later vacated their entire season. Meanwhile, Luke Hancock had his MOP award stripped when the NCAA vacated Louisville's 2013 national championship. His award was restored in 2019 when a lawsuit brought against the NCAA was settled, clearing his name of any wrongdoing in the team scandal.

Key

Winners

Cheryl Miller in Final Four game against Tennessee

* Olajuwon later changed his first name's spelling from Akeem to Hakeem to use the original Arabic spelling. * Despite what some NCAA publications have printed many years later—that

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

's Bill Spivey won the 1951 award—no official vote occurred after the game and no player was officially presented as the winner. A news article printed by the ''

Lexington Herald-Leader The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second larg ...

'' on April 7, 1951, titled "What Happened To NCAA's MVP Award?" detailed this mysterious divergence of precedent. Reporter Ed Ashford wrote, "For 11 consecutive years a most valuable player was chosen after the NCAA basketball tournament. However this year, for some unexplained reason, no poll was taken and there was no MVP honored. Whether the authorities just forgot about it or decided to eliminate balloting for the honor is not known. If a poll had been taken, it is likely that Kentucky would have garnered its third MVP award in the last four years. Alex Groza won the honor in 1948 and 1949 while Bill Spivey and Shelby Linville would have been strong contenders for the award this year." * Lew Alcindor later changed his named to

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

. *

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

scored 25 points in a losing effort but was still named the MOP. However, he was later ruled ineligible for the honor because he had signed a professional contract with the ABA's

Pittsburgh Condors The Pittsburgh Condors were a professional basketball team in the original American Basketball Association (ABA). Originally called the Pittsburgh Pipers, they were a charter franchise of the ABA and captured the first league title. The team pla ...

during the middle of his senior year. The NCAA vacated both Porter's award and Villanova's entire season. * Okafor graduated as a finance major in only three years. He was a senior academically in 2003–04, but was still considered a junior as it related to his athletic eligibility. * Hancock had his MOP award stripped when the NCAA vacated Louisville's 2013 national championship. His award was restored in 2019 when a lawsuit brought against the NCAA was settled, clearing his name of any wrongdoing in the team scandal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ncaa Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player 1939 establishments in the United States Associated Press awards Awards established in 1939 Basketball most valuable player awards College basketball trophies and awards in the United States Most Outstanding Player Most Outstanding Player

Key

Winners

See also

References