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During the 2013-14 NCAA Basketball season, few players were as great as Creighton's Doug McDermott was on a nightly basis. On Thursday, that became even more abundantly clear.
The Creighton forward, who will be headed for the National Basketball Association this summer, was announced as the Associated Press' Player of the Year for the 2013-14 season.
The Ames, Ia. native capped off his legendary collegiate career with a bang, ranking as the nation's leading scorer with an average of 26.9 points per night. McDermott put up those numbers on a field goal percentage of 52.9 and shot 44.9 percent from the perimeter. Additionally, he shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line and averaged seven rebounds per game to go along with his potent and persistent abilities to score at will.
By accomplishing this feat, he becomes the first player from the BIG EAST Conference to win the AP Player of the Year Award since St. John's power forward Walter Berry took home the hardware at the conclusion of the 1985-86 season, per the conference.
In total, McDermott received an astonishing 64 of 65 votes from a media panel that also conducts the voting for the weekly Top 25 that the AP sends out during each week of the college basketball regular season. The other first place vote was given to Louisville's All-American guard Russ Smith.