Michael Beasley - College Career - Awards and Honors

Awards and Honors

Beasley and Bob Boozer are the only players in Kansas State history to earn first team All-America honors from the Associated Press. Boozer, the school's only consensus first team All-American, was named to the first team after his outstanding 1959 season. Overall, Beasley is just the fifth player in school history to earn recognition to any of organization's three All-America teams, joining Rolando Blackman (third team – 1980); Bob Boozer (second team – 1958; first team – 1959), Mike Evans (third team – 1978) and Dick Knostman (third team – 1952; second team – 1953). Beasley was selected to the 10-member 2008 John R. Wooden Award All-America team as well as one of five finalists for the prestigious John R. Wooden Player of the Year Award, which was awarded to Tyler Hansbrough on April 11 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. He became the second consecutive standout freshman (after Kevin Durant the previous year) to win both Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year accolades.

Beasley became the fourth player in school history to be honored as the league's Player of the Year and the first since the inception of the Big 12. He joined Lon Kruger (1973 and 1974), Mike Evans (1977 and 1978) and Rolando Blackman (1980) as Wildcats to be named to conference Player of the Year. He was the first player to earn the distinction of league Freshman of the Year and the 12th overall to be selected as either Freshman or Newcomer of the Year since 1970. Six freshmen (Bob Zender – 1970; Steve Mitchell – 1971; Lon Kruger – 1972; Mike Evans – 1975; Curtis Redding – 1977 and Ed Nealy – 1979) in school history have been named Newcomer of the Year. He earned his second major National Player of the Year honor as he was selected to the honor by Rivals.com. He was also named the organization's National Freshman of the Year and to its All-America first team.

In addition to earning Player of the Year accolades from both CBS Sports.com and Rivals.com, Beasley was named one of four finalists for the 2008 Naismith Player of the Year Award, which was awarded to Tyler Hansbrough, presented by AT&T and the Atlanta Tipoff Club. He, along with fellow finalists Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts, North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and UCLA's Kevin Love, traveled to the Final Four on April 6, 2008, where the trophy was presented at the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game awards program. He also was one of 10 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year award and one of 25 for the John R. Wooden Award, which was also claimed by Tyler Hansbrough.

In addition to his National Player of the Year awards, Beasley was named National Freshman of the Year by four organizations, including CBS Sports.com, Rivals.com, The Sporting News and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). He has also been selected a first team All-American by numerous outlets, including CBS Sports.com, Dick Vitale, ESPN.com, Rivals.com, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. In addition, he was chosen as a first team Freshman All-American by CBS Sports.com and Rivals.com, while teammate Bill Walker was announced to CBS Sports.com's Freshman All-America third team.