The Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

award given to the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1985–86 season, the first year the league conducted basketball competition. The most notable recipient of the Big South Player of the Year Award is

Tony Dunkin Tony Dunkin (born February 16, 1970) is an American former college basketball standout for Coastal Carolina University. He is best known for being the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player to be honored as his conference player of the year ...

. Dunkin, a 6'7" (2.01 m)

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

, played for the

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (, ) are the athletic teams that represent Coastal Carolina University. They participate in Division I of the NCAA as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in most sports, having joined that conference as a full ...

from 1989 to 1993 and won the award all four seasons. He is the only

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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 The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

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 Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

(joining in 2007), Gardner–Webb (2008), and Longwood (2012). Although

Campbell's Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become ...

current tenure in the Big South dates only to 2011, it has three winners from its first conference tenure (1983–1994).

Key

Winners

Winners by school

Footnotes

References

;General * ;Specific {{Men's college basketball award navbox NCAA Division I men's basketball conference players of the year

Player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

Awards established in 1986 1986 establishments in the United States