# Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Big South Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1985–86 season, the first year the league conducted basketball competition.
A distinctive recipient of the Big South Player of the Year Award is Tony Dunkin. Dunkin, a 6'7" (2.01 m) small forward, played for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from 1989 to 1993 and won the award all four seasons. He is the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player to ever earn four conference player of the year awards.
Coastal Carolina, which left the Big South for the Sun Belt Conference after the 2015–16 season, has the most all-time awards with nine and individual winners with five. Among current members, Winthrop has the most awards with six. The only established Big South members without any winners are three of the six newest members of the conference—Presbyterian (joining in 2007), Gardner–Webb (2008), and Longwood (2012). Although Campbell's current tenure in the Big South dates only to 2011, it has three winners from its first conference tenure (1983–1994).

## Key

| † | Co-Players of the Year |
| * | Awarded a national player of the year award: UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present) |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Big South Player of the Year award at that point |

## Winners

| Season | Player | School | Position | Class |
| 1985–86 | Fred McKinnon | Winthrop | F | Senior |
| 1986–87 | Clarence Grier | Campbell | F | Senior |
| 1987–88 | Derek Wilson | Coastal Carolina | PF / C | Junior |
| 1988–89 | Henry Wilson | Campbell | C | Senior |
| 1989–90 | Tony Dunkin | Coastal Carolina | SF | Freshman |
| 1990–91 | Tony Dunkin (2) | Coastal Carolina | SF | Sophomore |
| 1991–92 | Tony Dunkin (3) | Coastal Carolina | SF | Junior |
| 1992–93 | Tony Dunkin (4) | Coastal Carolina | SF | Senior |
| 1993–94 | Joe Spinks | Campbell | SF | Senior |
| 1994–95 | Eric Burks | Charleston Southern | PG | Senior |
| 1995–96 | T. L. Latson | Charleston Southern | SF | Senior |
| 1996–97 | Josh Pittman | UNC Asheville | SG | Junior |
| 1997–98 | Josh Pittman (2) | UNC Asheville | SG | Senior |
| 1998–99 | Kevin Martin | UNC Asheville | SF | Senior |
| 1999–00 | Jason Williams | Radford | F | Junior |
| 2000–01 | Torrey Butler | Coastal Carolina | SF | Junior |
| 2001–02 | Greg Lewis | Winthrop | PF | Senior |
| 2002–03 | Torrey Butler (2) | Coastal Carolina | SF | Senior |
| 2003–04 | Danny Gathings | High Point | PF | Junior |
| 2004–05 | Pele Paelay | Coastal Carolina | SG | Junior |
| 2005–06 | Jack Leasure | Coastal Carolina | PG / SG | Sophomore |
| 2006–07 | Arizona Reid | High Point | PF | Junior |
| 2007–08 | Arizona Reid (2) | High Point | PF | Senior |
| 2008–09 | Artsiom Parakhouski | Radford | C | Junior |
| 2009–10 | Artsiom Parakhouski (2) | Radford | C | Senior |
| 2010–11 | Jesse Sanders | Liberty | PG | Junior |
| 2011–12 | Matt Dickey | UNC Asheville | PG | Senior |
| 2012–13 | Stan Okoye | VMI | PF | Senior |
| 2013–14 | John Brown | High Point | PF | Sophomore |
| 2014–15 | Saah Nimley | Charleston Southern | PG | Senior |
| 2015–16 | John Brown (2) | High Point | PF | Senior |
| 2016–17 | Keon Johnson | Winthrop | G | Senior |
| 2017–18 | Xavier Cooks | Winthrop | G/F | Senior |
| 2018–19 | Chris Clemons | Campbell | PG | Senior |
| 2019–20 | Carlik Jones | Radford | PG | Junior |
| 2020–21 | Chandler Vaudrin | Winthrop | PG / SG | Senior |
| 2021–22 | D. J. Burns | Winthrop | F | Junior |
| 2022–23 | Drew Pember | UNC Asheville | F | Senior |
| 2023–24 | Drew Pember (2) | UNC Asheville | F | Graduate |
| 2024–25 | Taje' Kelly | Charleston Southern | PF | Senior |

## Winners by school

| School (year joined) | Winners | Years |
| Coastal Carolina (1983) | 9 | 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 |
| UNC Asheville (1984) | 6 | 1997, 1998, 1999, 2012, 2023, 2024 |
| Winthrop (1983) | 6 | 1986, 2002, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 |
| High Point (1999) | 5 | 2004, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016 |
| Campbell (1983/2011) | 4 | 1987, 1989, 1994, 2019 |
| Charleston Southern (1983) | 4 | 1995, 1996, 2015, 2025 |
| Radford (1983) | 4 | 2000, 2009, 2010, 2020 |
| Liberty (1991) | 1 | 2011 |
| VMI (2003) | 1 | 2013 |
| Gardner–Webb (2008) | 0 | — |
| Hampton (2018) | 0 | — |
| Longwood (2012) | 0 | — |
| North Carolina A&T (2021) | 0 | — |
| Presbyterian (2007) | 0 | — |
| USC Upstate (2018) | 0 | — |
* ↑ The Big South Conference was formed in 1982–83 but did not compete in varsity basketball until 1985–86.
* ↑ Four Division I women's players have matched this achievement, although two were co-winners on at least one occasion. Lee Eun-jung of Louisiana–Monroe, then known as Northeast Louisiana, was the sole recipient of the Southland Conference award from 1983–1986, and Macee Williams of IUPUI was the sole recipient in the Horizon League from 2019–2022. Kim Smith of Utah received the award in the Mountain West Conference from 2003–2006, twice outright and twice shared. Jantel Lavender of Ohio State received Big Ten Conference honors from 2008–2011. In that conference, two separate awards are presented, one voted on by league coaches and the other by media; Lavender received the coaches' award in 2008, the media award in 2011, and both awards in 2009 and 2010.
* ↑ Coastal Carolina left in 2016 for the Sun Belt Conference.
* ↑ Campbell University left in 1994 to join the Trans America Athletic Conference, now known as the ASUN Conference. The Fighting Camels returned to the Big South in 2011, and will leave again in 2023, this time for the Colonial Athletic Association.
* ↑ Liberty University left in 2018 to join the ASUN Conference, and will move to Conference USA in 2023.
* ↑ Virginia Military Institute (VMI), which joined the Big South from the Southern Conference in 2003, returned to the SoCon in 2014.
* 1 2 Hampton University and North Carolina A&T State University (North Carolina A&T) left in 2022 for the Colonial Athletic Association.