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Frank Kaminsky Wins 2015 Naismith National Player of the Year

On Sunday afternoon, Frank Kaminsky was awarded the Naismith National Player of the Year award.

By Thomas Beindit
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

For the third time this week, Frank Kaminsky has received a major award for being the best player in the country.  Earlier this week, it was the Oscar Robertson and Associated Press National Player of the Year awards and now it is the Naismith National Player of the Year award.

Kaminsky received the award after putting together a fantastic season highlighted by back-to-back major performances in the Elite Eight and Final Four against Arizona and Kentucky.  The Badgers faced arguably their two toughest opponents of the season and Kaminsky came up with 29 and 20 points respectively.  In receiving the award, Kaminsky beat out players such as Duke's Jahlil Okafor, Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein, Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, and Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell.

Here are some of Kaminsky's stats this season.

Frank Kaminsky's 2014-15 Stats:
  • 18.7 pts, 8.1 rebs, 2.7 asts per game
  • 260 field goals (#1 in the Big Ten)
  • 55.1% field goal percentage (#1 in the Big Ten)
  • 194 free throw attempts (#4 in the Big Ten)
  • 711 points (#2 in the Big Ten)
  • 251 defensive rebounds (#1 in the Big Ten)
  • 126.7 offensive rating during 40% of team's minutes (#1 in nation)
  • 2.835 KenPom Player of the Year rating (#1 in the nation)

Those numbers are simply amazing, especially considering that he played with guys like Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes, and Bronson Koenig who took a ton of possessions themselves.  This was not a case of Kaminsky simply hogging the ball and building up his numbers.  This was simply outstanding play.

Wisconsin's official account tweeted out Kaminsky accepting the award.

Frank Kaminsky has already established himself as one of, if not the best Wisconsin Badger of all-time and he still gets one more game to enhance his legacy.  If the Badgers are able to beat Duke on Monday night and grab the national championship, he could very well establish himself as the great Badger of all-time.

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