The national player of the year race developing between Auburn’s Johni Broome and Duke’s Cooper Flagg has the chance to be historically great. That topic is the lead of this week’s Court Report.
Can Flagg and Broome put on a two-man dash that bests the greatest NPOY battles in college basketball history? Because they’re the main feature on clearly the two best teams (as of today), I think so. Again, dive into the Court Report for more on that.
Let’s look at which players/seasons those two are up against. Below, I’ve built out capsules for the best NPOY contests over the past 40 years, since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985. I’m qualifying the “best” races as such: At least two players received at least two national player of the year honors, or three players split the vote across the six major award outlets (Naismith, Oscar Robertson, Associated Press, Wooden, NABC, Sporting News).
Court Report: Cooper Flagg vs. Johni Broome is becoming one of the best national player of the year races ever
Matt Norlander
In reverse chronological order, here’s the list.
2016: Buddy Hield (Oklahoma), Denzel Valentine (Michigan State)
Our most recent race prior to Broome/Flagg is, statistically, the closest duo race ever: Hield and Valentine split 5-5 among 10 NPOY voting outlets. (Here at CBS Sports, we gave it to Hield).
As previously referenced, Flagg and Broome are comfortably 1-2 in KenPom’s POY metric. They’re EASILY the top two players in advanced stats this season. But in 2016? That wasn’t the case. Hield was 3, Valentine 4. (UNC’s Brice Johnson was No. 1, Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon No. 2.) Whereas Auburn and Duke have ranked top-two for much of this season, MSU and Oklahoma were good teams, but not great ones in 2015-16. The Spartans and Sooners both earned No. 2 seeds, with Oklahoma making the Final Four and MSU being upset by No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee in the first round.
2006: Adam Morrison (Gonzaga), JJ Redick (Duke)
Given the raw scoring prowess of both players, this is considered the best modern NPOY race ever. Redick was recognized by all six major outlets, though he split the vote with Morrison for the Oscar Robertson POY and the NABC poll. Morrison’s 28.1 points led the nation in scoring, with Redick second at 26.8. At 139 made 3-pointers, Redick led the nation in beyond-the-arc proficiency. Morrison’s 240 made foul shots were tops in hoops.
Redick’s Duke team finished No. 2 at KenPom. Gonzaga was a 29-4 WCC powerhouse that finished outside the top 30. Duke was a top seed, while GU was a No. 3. Both teams won their leagues, but both were knocked out in the Sweet 16 in surprising fashion. Duke was stomped by an ultra-athletic LSU team, while Gonzaga notoriously blew one of the biggest leads ever in NCAA tourney history, falling to UCLA. Morrison’s career ended with him crying on the court in the closing seconds.
2003: Nick Collison (Kansas), TJ Ford (Texas), David West (Xavier)
The most recent instance of three guys getting NPOY honors. How long will it be before we see something like this again? Ford won three (Wooden, Naismith, Sporting News), West won two (Oscar Robertson and AP), Collison got the nod from the NABC. Ford was a sophomore, the other two seniors.
West was a beast for a Xavier team that won 26 games and destroyed the A-10. Ford played for a top-seeded Texas team that made the only Final Four of Rick Barnes’ career. Collison’s Kansas team was a No. 2 seed, but it won the Big 12 over Texas and also reached the final stage, losing in the title game to Syracuse. (Just like Texas in the national semis.) Speaking of, are you wondering where Carmelo Anthony is? He was a Second Team All-American, which is all the more reason why voting on the NPOY and All-America teams should wait until the week leading up to the Final Four instead of being logged prior to the NCAA Tournament.
1995: Ed O’Bannon (UCLA), Shawn Respert (Michigan State), Joe Smith (Maryland)
The best three-player race ever, and as a result, maybe the best ever period? All three earned two NPOY honors apiece, the only time that’s happened. O’Bannon (a senior) won Robertson and Wooden, Respert (a senior) took NABC and Sporting News, Smith (a sophomore) nabbed honors from Naismith and AP. O’Bannon won the most of all, though: UCLA was the national champion that year. The Bruins back then were like Auburn or Duke right now: Finished 31-2, clearly the best team. Smith played for a 26-8 Terps team that finished third in the ACC and lost as a No. 3 seed in the Sweet 16 to UConn. Respert’s 22-6 Spartans were also a No. 3 seed, falling to Weber State in the first round after being third place in the Big Ten. That was Jud Heathcote’s final year; Tom Izzo took over the following season.
Back then, these were three players in three leagues: O’Bannon in the Pac-10, Respert in the Big Ten and Smith in the ACC. Now all these schools are in the Big Ten.
1989: Sean Elliott (Arizona), Danny Ferry (Duke), Stacey King (Oklahoma)
Elliott won three (AP, Wooden, NABC), Ferry two (Robertson, Naismith) and King took home the Sporting News’ honor. All were seniors. Elliott’s Arizona team was the final No. 1 (at the end of the regular season; there was no postseason poll). The Wildcats went 29-4, won the Pac-10 and were upset in the Sweet 16 by UNLV. Oklahoma was like Arizona: dominant in its league (won the Big Eight), got a No. 1 seed but was clipped in the Sweet 16. At Duke, Ferry led the charge on a 28-8 team that was second in the ACC and made the Final Four but lost to Seton Hall.
For whatever reason, this one feels like the most overlooked really good NPOY race of the past 50-or-so years, probably because a) none of the players reached the national title game, and b) none of them went on to be great NBA players.
1988: Hersey Hawkins (Bradley), Danny Manning (Kansas)
Here’s a race with a player with a mid-major track record going up against a big boy at a blue blood. Sound familiar? They each won three trophies. Well, Manning got five, when you include the national championship and his Final Four Most Outstanding Player. In addition to that Manning brought in Naismith, NABC and the Wooden awards. Hawkins’ Braves went 26-5 and got knocked out in the first round of the NCAAs, but he became the rare mid-major player to rise to national prominence by earning the NPOY in the eyes of the voters for the Associated Press, Oscar Robertson and Sporting News.
This is the most recent instance of two players splitting three apiece for the six traditional most prominent NPOY awards.
1985: Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Chris Mullin (St. John’s)
Two great players on two of the best teams in the country — and both made the Final Four. Some Flagg/Broome parallels here as well. Georgetown and St. John’s were consistently great from start to finish in 1984-85, just as Auburn and Duke have been three months into 2024-25. Ewing won four of the six honors that year (Naismith, AP, NABC, Sporting News), Mullin took two (Robertson and Wooden). With Villanova winning the title, this season was the one that, more than any other, built the lore of the Big East and cemented Ewing and Mullin’s legacies as college greats.
Broome and Flagg can do the same if they keep this up — and bring their teams to the Final Four in San Antonio.