The UPI College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual basketball award given to the best men's basketball player in NCAA Division I competition. The award was first given following the 1954âÂÂ55 season and was discontinued following the 1995âÂÂ96 season. It was given by United Press International (UPI), a news agency in the United States that rivaled the Associated Press but began to decline with the advent of television news.
Five playersâÂÂOscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton and Ralph SampsonâÂÂwon the award multiple times. Among them, only Robertson, Walton, and Sampson were three-time UPI Players of the Year.
UCLA had the most all-time winners with six. Ohio State was second with four winners, while Cincinnati and Virginia were tied for third with three winners apiece.