Buddy Hield has won the Naismith Player of the Year after an outstanding season at Oklahoma that saw him carry that team to the Final Four, only to score all of nine points and get completely skunked by maybe the greatest team shooting performance in tournament history. Still, Hield is more than deserving of the award; you don't average 25 points a game without being at least a little okay at the game of basketball.
Hield, the two-time Big 12 Player of the Year, averaged 25 points a game. He also won the Oscar Robertson Trophy presented by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and finished a close second to Michigan State's Denzel Valentine for The Associated Press Player of the Year Award.
Hield is kind of Sooner sports in a nutshell this year. Perform at a consistently high level all season, make it to the national semifinals, and completely crap your pants on a national stage. It's unfortunate that Hield's incredible season (including a mind-bending 46 point performance in a triple overtime loss to Kansas) will be overshadowed by a combined 15 points in losses to West Virginia and Villanova in the Big 12 Championship and the national semifinals, respectively.
Still, those are the breaks. Just ask Big Game Bob Stoops.
