Rocio Robles
The winner of the Wooden Award, one of the awards that defines the best player of the season in both men’s and women’s college basketball, was announced yesterday, and Kentucky Wildcats’ star Oscar Tshiebwe took the honor, representing the sixth and final award to be received at the end of the season, with the Republic of Congo native triumphing in each of them.
Tshiebwe also claimed Naismith, Associated Press, Sporting News, NABC and Oscar Robertson Player of the Year awards, giving him the title of Player of the Year unanimously within the 2021-2022 NCAA season. In this way, the 22-year-old becomes the fifth player in the last six collegiate campaigns to be a unanimous choice: joining Luke Garza in 2021 (University of Iowa), Zion Williamson in 2019 (Duke University), Jalen Brunson in 2018 (Villanova University) and Frank Mason III in 2017 (Duke University).
Oscar Tshiebwe’s numbers this season
In his third season in the NCAA (and first as a member of the University of Kentucky) the 2.06-meter inside player averaged 17.4 points, 15.2 rebounds (highest mark in history since 1992), 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks in 31.9 minutes with a 60.6% efficiency from the field through 34 games in the season. Despite the Wildcats’ failure in the March Madness, who fell in the first round to the tournament’s surprise, the Saint Peter’s Peacocks, one of the few highlights was the performance of Tshiebwe, who finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds in the game.
Among so much talent to choose from in what has been a spectacular season for college basketball, Oscar’s numbers look like something out of a video game and his dominance in the paint for Kentucky cannot be ignored. Without him, the team would have had no chance of reaching the second seed in the East region.
Despite his success, the third-year player is likely to return for his senior year of college basketball, as he does not currently have as much interest from NBA teams. Many projections place him as a second-round draft in the best-case scenario should he declared himself a participant in the competition to be held in the coming months.
However, if he continues to improve, he could be among the most interesting prospects for the 2023 tournament, even though he will be 23 years old when it takes place. Tshiebwe has up until April 24 to decide whether or not to declare for this year’s NBA draft.
