All-time National Players of the Year honorees going back to 1955 as selected by Ronnie Flores and the 10-man Mr. Basketball USA Tracker panel. Only two never played a minute in the NBA.
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Some of the all-time POY picks were tough choices. A few were no-brainers. All the previous winners enjoyed success at the higher levels of the game. Can you pick out the only two previous Mr. Basketball USA winners that did not log minutes in the NBA?
Editor’s Note: Use the scroll bar underneath the table, or use your fingers to scroll to the right, to view all the data within the table.
| Year | Name | HT | High School | College | Runner-up(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Cooper Flagg | 6-8 | Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) | Duke | Jayden Harper, Cameron Boozer |
| 2023 | Cameron Boozer | 6-9 | Columbus (Miami, FL) | n/a | Isaiah Collier, Ron Holland |
| 2022 | Dariq Whitehead | 6-5 | Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) | Duke | Keyonte George, Dereck Lively |
| 2021 | Chet Holmgren | 7-0 | Minnehaha Academy (Minneapolis, MN) | Gonzaga | Jabari Smith |
| 2020 | Cade Cunningham | 6-7 | Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) | Oklahoma St. | Evan Mobley, Jalen Green |
| 2019 | Isaiah Stewart | 6-9 | La Lumiere (La Porte, IN) | Washington | Cole Anthony |
| 2018 | R.J. Barrett | 6-7 | Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) | Duke | Zion Williamson |
| 2017 | Michael Porter Jr. | 6-9 | Nathan Hale (Seattle) | Missouri | DeAndre Ayton, Trevon Duval |
| 2016 | Lonzo Ball | 6-6 | Chino Hills (Chino Hills, CA) | UCLA | Josh Jackson |
| 2015 | Ben Simmons | 6-9 | Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) | LSU | consensus |
| 2014 | Cliff Alexander | 6-9 | Curie (Chicago) | Kansas | Stanley Johnson, Jahlil Okafor |
| 2013 | Andrew Wiggins | 6-7 | Hunington Prep (Huntington, WV) | Kansas | Jabari Parker, Aaron Gordon |
| 2012 | Shabazz Muhammad | 6-6 | Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) | UCLA | Jabari Parker, Kyle Anderson |
| 2011 | Mike Gilchrist | 6-7 | St. Patrick (Elizabeth, NJ) | Kentucky | Austin Rivers, Brad Beal |
| 2010 | Harrison Barnes | 6-7 | Ames (Ames, IA) | North Carolina | Jared Sullinger |
| 2009 | Derrick Favors | 6-9 | South Atlanta (Atlanta) | Georgia Tech | DeMarcus Cousins, Avery Bradley |
| 2008 | Brandon Jennings | 6-1 | Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) | none | Samardo Samuels |
| 2007 | O.J. Mayo | 6-4 | Huntington (Huntington, WV | USC | Kevin Love, Derrick Rose |
| 2006 | Greg Oden | 7-0 | Lawrence North (Indianapolis) | Ohio State | Kevin Durant |
| 2005 | Monta Ellis | 6-3 | Lanier (Jackson, MS) | none | Greg Oden |
| 2004 | Sebastian Telfair | 6-0 | Lincoln (Brooklyn, NY) | none | Dwight Howard |
| 2003 | LeBron James | 6-8 | St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, OH) | none | consensus |
| 2002 | LeBron James | 6-7 | St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, OH) | n/a | Carmelo Anthony |
| 2001 | Dajuan Wagner | 6-2 | Camden (Camden, N.J.) | Memphis | Tyson Chandler, Eddie Curry |
| 2000 | Darius Miles | 6-9 | East St. Louis (East. St. Louis, IL) | none | Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace |
| 1999 | Jonathan Bender | 6-11 | Picayune (Picayune, MS) | none | Donnell Harvey |
| 1998 | Rashard Lewis | 6-10 | Elsik (Houston) | none | Ron Curry, JaRon Rush |
| 1997 | Tracy McGrady | 6-7 | Mount Zion (Durham, NC) | none | Lamar Odom |
| 1996 | Mike Bibby | 6-0 | Shadow Mountain (Pheonix) | Arizona | Kobe Bryant, Tim Thomas |
| 1995 | Kevin Garnett | 6-10 | Farragut (Chicago) | none | Ron Mercer, Stephon Marbury |
| 1994 | Felipe Lopez | 6-5 | Rice (New York) | St. John's | consensus |
| 1993 | Rasheed Wallace | 6-11 | Simon Gratz (Philadelphia) | North Carolina | Jerry Stackhouse, Randy Livingston |
| 1992 | Jason Kidd | 6-4 | St. Joseph (Alameda) | California | Rodrick Rhodes |
| 1991 | Chris Webber | 6-10 | Country Day (Beverly Hills, MI) | Michigan | Glenn Robinson |
| 1990 | Damon Bailey | 6-3 | North Lawrence (Bedford, IN) | Indiana | Ed O'Bannon |
| 1989 | Kenny Anderson | 6-1 | Archbishop Malloy (Queens, NY) | Georgia Tech | consensus |
| 1988 | Alonzo Mourning | 6-10 | Indian River (Chesapeake, VA) | Georgetown | Shawn Kemp, Billy Owens |
| 1987 | Larry Johnson | 6-5 | Skyline (Dallas) | SMU | Marcus Liberty |
| 1986 | J.R. Reid | 6-10 | Kempsville (Virginia Beach, VA) | North Carolina | Rex Chapman, Terry Mills |
| 1985 | Danny Ferry | 6-10 | DeMatha (Hyattsville, MD) | Duke | Jeff Lebo |
| 1984 | John Williams | 6-8 | Crenshaw (Los Angeles) | LSU | Danny Manning, Delray Brooks |
| 1983 | Reggie Williams | 6-7 | Dunbar (Baltimore) | Georgetown | Dwayne "Pearl" Washington |
| 1982 | Waymon Tisdale | 6-9 | Washington (Tulsa, OK) | Oklahoma | Billy Thompson |
| 1981 | Patrick Ewing | 7-0 | Rindge & Latin (Cambridge, MA) | Georgetwon | consensus |
| 1980 | Glenn "Doc" Rivers | 6-4 | Proviso East (Maywood, IL) | Marquette | Patrick Ewing, Earl Jones |
| 1979 | Clark Kellogg | 6-7 | St. Joseph (Cleveland) | Ohio State | Isiah Thomas, Ralph Sampson |
| 1978 | Mark Aguirre | 6-6 | Westinghouse (Chicago) | DePaul | Dwight Anderson |
| 1977 | Albert King | 6-7 | Fort Hamilton (Brooklyn, NY) | Maryland | Magic Johnson, Gene Banks |
| 1976 | Darrell Griffith | 6-4 | Male (Louisville, KY) | Louisville | Albert King |
| 1975 | Bill Cartwright | 7-1 | Elk Grove (Elk Grove, CA) | San Francisco | David Greenwood, Darryl Dawkins |
| 1974 | Moses Malone | 6-11 | Petersburg (Petersburg, VA) | none | Allen "Skip" Wise |
| 1973 | Adrian Dantley | 6-6 | DeMatha (Hyattsville, MD) | Notre Dame | Kent Benson, Tom LaGarde |
| 1972 | Quinn Buckner | 6-3 | Thornton (Dolton, IL) | Indiana | Alvin Adams, Phil Sellers |
| 1971 | Maurice Lucas | 6-9 | Schenley (Pittsburgh) | Marquette | Raymond Lewis, Roscoe Pondexter |
| 1970 | Tom McMillan | 6-11 | Mansfield (Mansfield, PA) | Maryland | Bill Walton, Dwight Jones |
| 1969 | George McGinnis | 6-8 | Washington (Indianapolis) | Indiana | Kevin Joyce |
| 1968 | Paul Westphal | 6-4 | Aviation (Redondo Beach, CA) | USC | Ralph Simpson |
| 1967 | Spencer Haywood | 6-9 | Pershing (Detroit) | Detroit | Ken Durrett, Jim McDaniels |
| 1966 | Calvin Murphy | 5-9 | Norwalk (Norwalk, CT) | Niagara | consensus |
| 1965 | Lew Alcindor | 7-1 | Power Memorial (New York) | UCLA | consensus |
| 1964 | Lew Alcindor | 7-0 | Power Memorial (New York) | n/a | Westley "Wes" Unseld |
| 1963 | Edgar Lacey | 6-6 | Jefferson (Los Angeles) | UCLA | Lew Alcindor |
| 1962 | Cazzie Russell | 6-5 | Carver (Chicago) | Michigan | John Austin, Larry Conley |
| 1961 | Bill Bradley | 6-5 | Crystal City (Crystal City, MO) | Princeton | Reggie Harding, Biilly Cunningham |
| 1960 | Connie Hawkins | 6-9 | Boys (Brooklyn) | Iowa | consensus |
| 1959 | Bill Raftery | 6-5 | St. Cecilia's (Englewood, NJ) | La Salle | Arthur Heyman |
| 1958 | Jerry Lucas | 6-8 | Middletown (Middletown, OH) | Ohio State | Bill McGill, Wayne Hightower |
| 1957 | Jerry Lucas | 6-8 | Middletown (Middletown, OH) | n/a | Tony Jackson |
| 1956 | Oscar Robertson | 6-5 | Crispus Attucks (Indianapolis) | Cincinnati | Kelly Coleman, Jerry West |
| 1955 | Wilt Chamberlain | 7-0 | Overbrook (Philadelphia) | Kansas | Oscar Robertson |
— In Runner(s)-up column indicates years in which the voting procedure and results yielded a consensus winner with no runner(s)-up named.
— In College column indicates player either returned to high school or went directly to professional basketball in the subsequent year.
Note: ESPN selections 2010-2012; EA SPORTS selections 2003-2009; Student Sports selections 1996-2002; Selections retroactive from 1989 back based on research by Doug Huff, a McDonald’s All-American selection committee member since the game’s inception, Senior Editor Mark Tennis and Publisher and Editor Ronnie Flores; Selections are based on high school accomplishment, not future college/pro potential, and are reflective of those that lead their teams to state championships. GrassrootsHoops.net does not knowingly select fifth-year players, and those ineligible due to age or academics, Mr. Basketball USA or to its various All-American teams.
Ronnie Flores is the Publisher of hoopscooponline.com. He can be reached at ronlocc1977@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
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