Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award should not be confused with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award.
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award | |
| Description: | the nation's top male center in NCAA basketball |
| Presenter: | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Holder: | Zach Edey, Purdue |
The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate center. Following the success of the Bob Cousy Award which had been awarded since 2004, the award was one of four new awards (along with the Jerry West Award, Julius Erving Award and Karl Malone Award) created as part of the inaugural College Basketball Awards show in 2015.[1] It is named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who played the position. The inaugural winner was Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin.[2]
| * | Awarded a national player of the year award: Sporting News; Oscar Robertson Trophy; Associated Press; NABC; Naismith; Wooden | |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at that point |
| Season | Player | School | Class | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | Wisconsin | ||||
| 2015–16 | Utah | [3] | |||
| 2016–17 | Gonzaga | [4] | |||
| 2017–18 | Seton Hall | [5] | |||
| 2018–19 | Wisconsin | [6] | |||
| 2019–20 | Iowa | [7] | |||
| 2020–21 |
| Iowa | [8] | ||
| 2021–22 | Kentucky | [9] | |||
| 2022–23 | Purdue | [10] | |||
| 2023–24 |
| Purdue | [11] |
| School | Winners | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2020, 2021 | |
| 2 | 2023, 2024 | |
| 2 | 2015, 2019 | |
| 1 | 2017 | |
| 1 | 2022 | |
| 1 | 2018 | |
| Utah | 1 | 2016 |