Wednesday, March 29, 2000Martin awarded Robertson trophy
UC center still can win Wooden
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati EnquirerThe first player to win the Oscar Robertson Trophy was a Cincinnati Bearcat, and so is the latest: senior center Kenyon Martin.
Martin was announced as the winner of the Robertson Trophy, which is voted upon by members of the United States Basketball Writers Association and is named for the player who won the first trophy, presented in 1959.
It was one of several honors for Martin that came through Tuesday. As a result, Martin may be busier in the next couple weeks than if UC had been able to make the Final Four as a team.
Martin learned he is one of six finalists for the third major player of the year honor, the John R. Wooden Award, which will be announced April7 at a dinner in Los Angeles. Martin already had been chosen for the Naismith Trophy, which will be presented April8 in Atlanta.
He was named, with Duke's Shane Battier, a co-winner of the defensive player of the year award voted upon by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Already the NABC's player of the year, Martin will accept that organization's trophies at a presentation Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis.
Martin is the second player to win the NABC's player of the year and defensive player of the year honors, joining Tim Duncan, who did it in 1997. To pick up the USBWA award, Martin will attend a taping of a CBS television show Thursday afternoon in Indy. Martin is the first UC player to win the USBWA award since Robertson, who also won in 1960.
Thursday night, Martin will serve as a judge for the slam-dunk competition produced by InnerSport that will be conducted at the Conseco Fieldhouse.
It's expected Martin will receive the Associated Press player of the year award at a press conference Friday morning. Martin was named first-team All-America on all but one AP ballot. XAVIER: Signee Romain Guessagba-Sato, a Division II first-team all-state player from Dayton Christian High School, was named Mr. Basketball by the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association.
Guessagba-Sato, a native of the Central African Republic who played only one season of basketball in the United States, averaged 26.4 points and 15.6 rebounds as a senior for Dayton Christian, which finished 24-1. — Michael Perry
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