Kaminsky caps off season with Wooden Award

LOS ANGELES (UW)– Wisconsin men’s basketball senior Frank Kaminsky was officially announced the winner of the 2015 John R. Wooden Award on Friday before a live audience at Club Nokia during the inaugural ESPN College Basketball Awards.

“This has all become pretty overwhelming, but it’s a tremendous honor and I’m humbled by all of the attention,” Kaminsky said. “Winning the Wooden Award and all of the others is something you dream about, but rarely is a reality.

“I’m grateful for everyone who has helped me along the way, my family, teammates, coaches, staff and Badgers fans everywhere. My career at Wisconsin has been more than I could have imagined and I will always take the memories and friendships with me wherever I go.”

Kaminsky becomes the first Wisconsin player to win the award and adds the latest trophy to a collection of accolades that already included the Naismith Trophy, Oscar Robertson Trophy, plus Associated Press and The Sporting News National Player of the Year honors.

The Wooden Award was decided on by a voting base of nearly 1,000 college basketball experts throughout the nation, who ranked players from 10 to 1, and fans voted through a fan voting site. Voters could consider performance through the Round of 32 of the NCAA tournament.

The 2015 Big Ten Player of the Year, Kaminsky became a consensus first-team All-American after receiving first-team nods from the Associated Press, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the United States Basketball Writers Association and The Sporting News. He is the first Badger to earn consensus All-America honors at Wisconsin since Alando Tucker in 2007.

Just the third preseason AP All-American in school history, Kaminsky validated the accolades and led the Badgers in points (18.8), rebounds (8.2), assists (103), blocks (57), field goal percentage (.547) and 3-point field goal percentage (.416). He also paced the Badgers in free throws (156) and free throw attempts (200) and averaged 78.0 percent shooting at the free throw line.

Kaminsky led Wisconsin to back-to-back Final Four runs, including reaching the national championship game this season. The 7-footer from Lisle, Illinois, had 20 points and 11 rebounds in UW’s win over Kentucky in the Final Four semifinals.