Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year

The Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, officially titled the Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year, is a basketball award given to the most outstanding men's basketball player in the Sun Belt Conference. The award was first given following the conference's first basketball season of 1976–77. Four players have been selected twice (Terry Catledge, Chris Gatling, Chico Fletcher, and R. J. Hunter), while no player has earned a three-time player of the year selection.

Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Given for	The most outstanding male basketball player in the Sun Belt Conference
Country	United States
Presented by	Sun Belt Conference
History
First award	1977
Most recent	Nijal Pearson, Texas State

Western Kentucky, which left the Sun Belt for Conference USA in 2014, has the most all-time winners with seven. Among schools remaining in the Sun Belt beyond 2014, South Alabama, the only charter member that has continuously been in the conference, has the most winners with six.

Key

†	Co-Players of the Year
*	Awarded a national Player of the Year award: Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year (1904–05 to 1978–79) 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 Sun Belt Player of the Year award at that point

Winners

Ervin Johnson won in 1993 as a senior for New Orleans.

Derek Fisher, the 1996 Sun Belt Player of the Year, has won five NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Reference
1976–77	Cedric Maxwell	UNC Charlotte[lower-alpha 1]	PF/C	Senior
1977–78	Wayne Cooper	New Orleans	C	Senior
1978–79	Rory White	South Alabama	PF	Sophomore
1979–80	James Ray	Jacksonville	PF	Senior
1980–81	Ed Rains	South Alabama	SF	Senior
1981–82	Oliver Robinson	UAB	SG	Senior
1982–83^†	Charlie Bradley	South Florida	SF	Sophomore
1982–83^†	Calvin Duncan	Virginia Commonwealth[lower-alpha 2]	SG	Sophomore
1983–84	Terry Catledge	South Alabama	PF	Junior
1984–85	Terry Catledge (2)	South Alabama	PF	Senior
1985–86	Kenny Gattison	Old Dominion	C	Senior
1986–87	Tellis Frank	Western Kentucky	PF	Senior
1987–88	Byron Dinkins	UNC Charlotte[lower-alpha 1]	PG	Junior
1988–89	Jeff Hodge	South Alabama	SG	Senior
1989–90	Chris Gatling	Old Dominion	PF	Junior
1990–91	Chris Gatling (2)	Old Dominion	PF	Senior
1991–92	Ron Ellis	Louisiana Tech	PF	Senior
1992–93	Ervin Johnson	New Orleans	C	Senior
1993–94^†	Michael Allen	Louisiana–Lafayette[lower-alpha 3]	G	Senior
1993–94^†	Jeff Clifton	Arkansas State	F	Senior
1994–95	Chris Robinson	Western Kentucky	SG	Junior
1995–96	Derek Fisher	Arkansas-Little Rock[lower-alpha 4]	SG	Senior
1996–97	Muntrelle Dobbins	Arkansas-Little Rock[lower-alpha 4]	PF	Senior
1997–98	Chico Fletcher	Arkansas State	PG	Sophomore
1998–99	Chico Fletcher (2)	Arkansas State	PG	Junior
1999–00	Gerrod Henderson	Louisiana Tech	SG	Sophomore
2000–01	Chris Marcus	Western Kentucky	C	Junior
2001–02	Héctor Romero	New Orleans	SF	Junior
2002–03	James Moore	New Mexico State	F	Junior
2003–04	Mike Wells	Western Kentucky	SG/PG	Senior
2004–05	Yemi Nicholson	Denver	C	Junior
2005–06	Anthony Winchester	Western Kentucky	SG	Senior
2006–07	Bo McCalebb	New Orleans	PG	Junior
2007–08	Courtney Lee	Western Kentucky	SG	Senior
2008–09	Orlando Mendez-Valdez	Western Kentucky	PG	Senior
2009–10	Tyren Johnson	Louisiana–Lafayette[lower-alpha 3]	PF	Senior
2010–11	Solomon Bozeman	Arkansas-Little Rock[lower-alpha 4]	SG	Senior
2011–12	LaRon Dendy	Middle Tennessee	PF	Senior
2012–13	Augustine Rubit	South Alabama	PF / C	Junior
2013–14	R. J. Hunter	Georgia State	SG	Sophomore
2014–15	R. J. Hunter (2)	Georgia State	SG	Junior
2015–16	Shawn Long	Louisiana–Lafayette[lower-alpha 3]	PF	Senior
2016–17	Kevin Hervey	Texas–Arlington	PF	Junior
2017–18	D'Marcus Simonds	Georgia State	SG	Sophomore
2018–19	Tookie Brown	Georgia Southern	PG	Senior
2019–20	Nijal Pearson	Texas State	SG	Senior

Notes

1. Now branded athletically as Charlotte.
2. Now branded athletically as VCU.
3. Now branded athletically as Louisiana.
4. Now branded athletically as Little Rock.

Winners by school

School (year joined)	Winners	Years
Western Kentucky (1982)[a 1]	7	1987, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009
South Alabama (1976)	6	1979, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1989, 2013
New Orleans (1976)[a 2]	4	1978, 1993, 2002, 2007
Arkansas State (1991)	3	1994^†, 1998, 1999
Georgia State (1976/2013)[a 3]	3	2014, 2015, 2018
Little Rock (1991)	3	1996, 1997, 2011
Louisiana (1991)	3	1994^†, 2010, 2016
Old Dominion (1982)[a 4]	3	1986, 1990, 1991
Charlotte (1976)[a 5]	2	1977, 1988
Louisiana Tech (1991)[a 6]	2	1992, 2000
Denver (1999)[a 7]	1	2005
Georgia Southern (2014)	1	2019
Jacksonville (1976)[a 8]	1	1980
Middle Tennessee (2001)[a 9]	1	2012
New Mexico State (2001)[a 10]	1	2003
South Florida (1976)[a 11]	1	1983^†
Texas–Arlington (2013)	1	2017
Texas State (2013)	1	2020
UAB (1979)[a 12]	1	1982
Virginia Commonwealth (1979)[a 13]	1	1983^†
Appalachian State (2014)	0	—
Coastal Carolina (2016)	0	—
Florida Atlantic (2006)[a 9]	0	—
FIU (1998)[a 9]	0	—
Louisiana–Monroe (2001)	0	—
North Texas (2001)[a 9]	0	—
Troy (2005)	0	—

1. Western Kentucky left for Conference USA (C-USA) in 2014.
2. New Orleans left in 1980 but later rejoined in 1991. They left a second time in 2010, planning to transition to NCAA Division II. The Privateers instead chose to remain in Division I, and joined the Southland Conference in 2013.
3. Georgia State, a charter member of the conference, left in 1981 to become independent. After later having been members of two other conferences, the Panthers rejoined the Sun Belt in 2013.
4. Old Dominion left in 1991 to join the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), and joined C-USA in 2013.
5. Charlotte left in 1991 for the Metro Conference. It became a charter member of C-USA when the Metro merged with the Great Midwest Conference, and still later moved to the Atlantic 10 Conference (A10), by which time it had adopted "Charlotte" as its athletic identity. The 49ers rejoined C-USA in 2013.
6. Louisiana Tech left in 2001 to join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), and joined C-USA in 2013.
7. Denver left in 2012 for the WAC, and moved again in 2013 to The Summit League.
8. Jacksonville left in 1998 for the Trans America Athletic Conference, now known as the Atlantic Sun Conference.
9. FIU, Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee, and North Texas all joined C-USA in 2013.
10. New Mexico State left in 2005 to join the WAC.
11. South Florida left in 1991 for the Metro Conference. The Bulls are now in the American Athletic Conference.
12. UAB left in 1991 for the Great Midwest. The Blazers became charter members of C-USA, and have remained there to this day.
13. VCU left in 1991 to join the CAA, and moved from there to the A10 in 2012.

References

• "2007–08 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Sun Belt Conference. p. 102. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2009.