Williams Earns USBWA Award

March 26, 2002

Duke junior guard Jason Williams has been named winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy as the nation's top college basketball player as voted on by members of the U. S. Basketball Writers Association.

Williams is the second Duke player in as many years to win the Oscar Robertson Trophy, following Shane Battier who was chosen last year. Williams also becomes the sixth Duke player overall selected player of the year by the USBWA. Previous winners besides Battier include Art Heyman in 1963, Danny Ferry in 1989, Christian Laettner in 1992, and Elton Brand in 1999.

A unanimous choice to the USBWA's All-America first team, Williams led the Blue Devils in quest of their second consecutive national championship this season, only to see that dream end with a 74-73 loss to Indiana in the semifinals of the NCAA South Regional at Lexington, Ky.

Williams hit a 3-point shot with 4.2 seconds left in the game against Indiana and went to the free throw line after being fouled on the shot with a chance to tie the score. But he missed the free throw and Duke was unable to covert a follow shot.

Williams finished the season leading Duke in scoring with a 21.3 average. He previously was named winner of the Naismith Award and selected player of the Year by the NABC (shared with Kansas' Drew Gooden), ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline and College Insider.com.

The Oscar Robertson Trophy is named after the former University of Cincinnati star who was named the USBWA's first player of the year in 1959 and repeated the honors again in 1960.

Players Mentioned

Shane Battier

Jason Williams

Duke information