 | |
| Awarded for | the most outstanding basketball player in the Northeast Conference |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| History | |
| First award | 1983 |
| Most recent | Jordan Derkack, Merrimack |
The Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an annual award given to the Northeast Conference's (NEC) most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1982–83 season, when the league was known as the ECAC Metro Conference.[a]
The most well-recognized NEC Player of the Year is Marist's Rik Smits, who won the award in both 1987 and 1988. Smits went on to have a successful National Basketball Association (NBA) career for 12 seasons (1988–2000), all with the Indiana Pacers.[1] In 1998, Smits was named an Eastern Conference All-Star.[1] In 2021–22, Alex Morales of Wagner became just the fourth NEC player to be named player of the year for two consecutive seasons, and the first since Charles Jones of Long Island University in 1997 and 1998.
LIU has the most winners with eight, all of whom represented Long Island University's Brooklyn campus before the school merged the athletic programs of its Brooklyn and Post campuses in July 2019. Robert Morris, which left the NEC for the Horizon League in 2020, is in second with six. All charter members of the Northeast Conference that are still members have had at least one winner.
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- ^ a b "Rik Smits Bio". National Basketball Association. Retrieved 14 April 2010.