Oklahoma Sooners senior guard Buddy Hield was named the 2016 Naismith Trophy winner.
As largely expected, Oklahoma Sooners senior superstar guard Buddy Hield won the 2016 Naismith Trophy as the best player in Division I in 2016. Hield led the Sooners to the 2016 Final Four in Houston.
Hield was the nation’s second leading scorer, averaging 25.0 points per game, shooting at a 50 percent clip from the field. He was a unanimous selection to the 2016 first-team All-American team and won his second straight Big 12 Player of the Year award.
While Hield’s Sooners came up miserably short of advancing to the 2016 NCAA Championship game after getting blown out by Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats in the National Semifinals, this was the first time in well over a decade that Oklahoma made it to the Final Four. Hield was the primary reason for the Sooners’ success on the hardwood in 2015-16.
He will enter the 2016 NBA Draft as a player likely going in the top part of the NBA Draft Lottery. Some big boards have Hield going as high as No. 3 behind only LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram.
Given that Hield can create his own shot and has a great offensive feel for the game, he has the potential to become a solid starter in the NBA or develop into a lethal sixth man type of role for a contending franchise.
While Hield’s illustrious NCAA career came to an end Saturday night in Houston, it’s essentially a guarantee that he will go down as one of the greatest players in Oklahoma hoops history. His jersey will almost certainly hang from the rafters in Norman whenever the Oklahoma athletic department deems fit.
For now, Hield can celebrate all that he accomplished with Oklahoma in his phenomenal senior season as the 2016 Naismith Trophy winner. It’s full steam ahead for Hield he embarks on what could be a promising NBA career this summer.
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