BYU basketball: Jimmer Fredette a 1st-team All-America, wins Robertson trophy

PROVO — BYU's Jimmer Fredette landed two prestigious national honors Monday, further validating his sensational senior season.

Fredette was voted the winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy — emblematic of the national player of the year — from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, which consists of more than 900 journalists.

The 6-foot-2 senior from Glens Falls, N.Y., was also named to the Associated Press All-America team, receiving all but one vote from the 65-member national media panel that selects the weekly Top 25. The voting was completed before the NCAA tournament.

Fredette became the Cougars' first All-America selection since Danny Ainge in 1981.

"I think that it's a great accomplishment. Unbelievable," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "It shows how good his work ethic is. He's a player who has worked his way into an All-American. What he's meant to our program over the last four years — it's really kind of immeasurable."

Behind Fredette's relentless scoring, the Cougars won the regular season Mountain West Conference championship and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 30 years.

"If you go out and play your game and have confidence in yourself, you can accomplish great things," Fredette said. "That's what I've always said in my head, and it's worked out."

Fredette will be presented the Oscar Robertson Trophy by its namesake, Oscar Robertson, at the USBWA's annual College Basketball Awards Breakfast Friday in Houston in conjunction with the Final Four. It is the nation's oldest award and the only one named after a former player.

Fredette is the second player from the MWC to earn that award, along with Utah's Andrew Bogut, who won it in 2005.

"Jimmer had an incredible season and was a great teammate and leader for our team," Rose said. "His main focus throughout the season was to help our team be successful and win games. Jimmer is a great player and I'm proud of all of his accomplishments."

Fredette was joined by Duke's Nolan Smith, Purdue's JuJuan Johnson, Connecticut's Kemba Walker and Ohio State's Jared Sullinger on the AP first team.

This season, Fredette leads the nation in scoring, having averaged 28.9 points per game. He averaged 32.7 points in three NCAA Tournament games.

Fredette broke Ainge's school scoring mark, finishing with 2,599 career points, including a school-record 1,068 points this year. He also shot 89.4 percent from the free throw line and led the team in assists with 4.3 per contest.

In 15 games, Fredette scored at least 30 points and he recorded four 40-plus point games. In the MWC Tournament semifinals, Fredette exploded for a single-game school record 52 points against New Mexico. Remarkably, only one of his 52 points in that contest came from the free throw line.

All-America First Team

Jimmer Fredette, 6'2", Sr.-G, BYU, 28.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 89.1 ft pct., 64 first-place votes, 323 points

Nolan Smith, 6'2", Sr.-G, Duke, 21.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 5.2 apg, 61 first-place votes, 315 points

Jared Sullinger, 6'9", Fr.-F, Ohio St., 17.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 53.6 fg pct., 58 first-place votes, 311 points

Kemba Walker, 6-1", Jr.-G, Connecticut, 23.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.3 apg, 51 first-place votes, 297 points

JaJuan Johnson, 6-10", Sr.-F/G, Purdue, 20.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.3 blks/game, 44 first-place votes, 277 points

Note: Stats through March 13

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

email: jeffc@desnews.com