Oscar Tshiebwe wins Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Award for best center

The best player in college basketball has got to be the best center in college basketball, right? That was confirmed once again Saturday afternoon when Oscar Tshiebwe was named the recipient of the Kareem Adbul-Jabbar Award, which honors the nation’s best center.

The award has been presented annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame since 2015. Tshiebwe is the first winner in program history and the third UK player under John Calipari to receive a positional award from the Naismith’s Starting Five. Tyler Ulis won the Bob Cousy Award for best point guard in 2016, followed by Malik Monk winning the Jerry West Award for best shooting guard in 2017.

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Tshiebwe he won the prestigious award on a video call this week. The honors were officially announced on Saturday during ESPN’s College GameDay.

Tshiebwe added two more National Player of the Year awards to his collection on Friday, taking home Associated Press and USBWA honors. He previously earned Sporting News and NABC Player of the Year honors, making him just two away (Naismith and Wooden Award) from being the consensus National Player of the Year.

Here are the major honors Tshiebwe has earned this season:

• AP Men’s College Player of the Year
• NABC National Player of the Year
• USBWA National Player of the Year
• Sporting News College Player of the Year
• Kareem-Abdul Jabbar Award
• NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
• NCAA Consensus All-America First Team
• USBWA First-Team All-America
• NABC First-Team All-America
• Associated Press First-Team All-America
• Sporting News First-Team All-America
• NABC All-District 20 First Team
• Southeastern Conference Player of the Year (coaches/media)
• All-SEC First Team (coaches/media)
• All-SEC Defensive Team (coaches)
• USBWA District IV Player of the Year
• USBWA All-District IV team
• USA Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-American
• The Athletic’s National Player of the Year
• Sports Illustrated First-Team All-American
• The Field of 68 National Player of the Year
• The Field of 68 First-Team All-America
• College Hoops Today National Player of the Year
• USA Today SEC Player of the Year
• USA Today First-Team All-SEC unanimous selection
• Wooden Award All-American

Tshiebwe not only averaged a double-double but did so with a considerable margin — averaging a team-best 17.4 points and a nation-leading 15.1 rebounds per game. He is the first Division I player who averaged at least 15.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds per game since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did during the 1979-80 season, and the first major-conference player who averaged at least 16.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds for a season since Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73. He became the first Wildcat to do it since Bob Burrow tallied 19.1 points and 17.7 rebounds per game in 1954-55.
 
In addition to his offensive and rebounding prowess, on the defensive end Tshiebwe was the only major conference player who averaged at least 1.6 blocked shots and 1.6 steals per game during the regular season. He also became only the third player in program history to amass at least 500 rebounds in a season. Tshiebwe finished the year with 515 boards.