Kansas forward Jalen Wilson was on his way to the gym on Sunday, when KU coach Bill Self stopped him with some good news.
Wilson was the unanimous choice by the Big 12 coaches as this season’s player of the year after leading the conference in scoring (19.7 points per game) and rebounding (8.3) during the regular season.
Wilson was a unanimous selection, receiving all nine available votes. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players in the postseason awards.
His first instinct after hearing he had won was to call his parents to share the news. Soon thereafter, he took a minute to reflect on achieving a goal that he set for himself long before the season began.
“I kind of relate it to the (national) championship,” Wilson said Monday. “You always say you want to win, you put the work in to win and when you do it, you’re like, ‘Whoa, I actually did it.’ Once you do it, it’s like, ‘Man, that really just happened.’ Because it doesn’t happen that often.”
Like 2021-22 KU teammate Ochai Agbaji before him, Wilson returned to Kansas last summer with the idea of taking his game and his team to a higher level. This week’s Big 12 honor took care of the first half of that equation, and with postseason play now just a couple of days away, Wilson’s mind is fixed on helping the Jayhawks win as many more games as possible.
“It’s just a blessing, knowing all the hard work I had to put in,” he said Monday. “I’m grateful for the award, and now it’s time to continue to go out and win more and prove why we all had our awards.”
Wilson, who also was one of five first-team all-Big 12 picks by the coaches, was joined on the list of postseason accolades by several of his teammates.
Junior point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. was named the conference’s defensive player of the year. Sophomore forward KJ Adams was named the Big 12’s most improved player. Freshman guard Gradey Dick earned second team all-Big 12 honors. And senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. was named to the third team.
Harris and McCullar both landed on the five-man all-defensive team. Dick was on both the five-man all-newcomer squad and the all-freshman team. And Adams and Harris earned honorable mention honors.
“Special. Special,” Wilson said of all five KU starters earning postseason honors. “It’s not always about one person, and it just shows the hard work and preparation we had during the summer.”
Asked specifically about Harris winning defensive player of the year but not landing on any of the first, second or third teams in the eyes of the coaches, Wilson shrugged and said, “Juan’s so used to getting counted out that I think it just drives him even more to be the best point guard he can be. I don’t know how you could be defensive player of the year and not be on one of the teams.”
Added Adams: “Dajuan’s just Dajuan. He does everything right and plays the same way no matter what he gets.”
As for Adams’ Most Improve Player award, which came in large part because of his double-digit scoring average during Big 12 play after averaging just 1.8 minutes per game a season ago, Wilson said simply, “I didn’t see any other player that deserved it.”
A likely first-team All-American who sits firmly on the list for several national player of the year honors, Wilson became just the seventh player — fourth Jayhawk — in the 27-year history of the Big 12 Conference to lead the league in scoring and rebounding in the same season.
Dedric Lawson (2018-19), Wayne Simien (2004-05) and Drew Gooden (2001-02) were the other KU players to finish on top in those two categories.
Wilson’s 10 double-doubles led the Big 12 — and gave him 26 for his career — and, perhaps most importantly, his team won the nation’s toughest conference with room to spare.
Although he did it in a different manner than his predecessors, Wilson joins recent KU winners Ochai Agbaji (2022), Udoka Azubuike (2020), Devonte’ Graham (2018) and Frank Mason III (2017).
Wilson’s 19.7 points-per-game average was the fourth highest among KU’s Big 12 player of the year honorees, behind Mason (20.9), Simien (20.3) and Gooden (19.8).
He becomes the 11th Jayhawk to win Big 12 player of the year honors, and his selection merely strengthens his case for one day seeing his name and number hanging in the rafters at Allen Fieldhouse.
Although there is no official criteria for having one’s jersey retired, being named conference player of the year and becoming a consensus All-American both have been strong indicators of such an honor in the past. In addition, Wilson’s status as a starter and key contributor on the 2022 national title team adds to his case.
“I remember coming here on my visit and seeing all the jerseys up there and kind of just (thinking), ‘Man, I wish I could be part of that one day,'” Wilson said Monday.
The Denton, Texas native now in his fourth year with the program received a nod on the all-newcomer and all-freshman teams following his redshirt freshman season in 2020-21 and was a third-team pick of the coaches last season.
In addition to taking over as the Jayhawks’ leading scorer this season, Wilson followed in the footsteps left by Agbaji in the way he exploded when thrust into the role of top dog.
His 2022-23 season included two 30-point outings, 17 games of 20 points or more and the highest-scoring six-game stretch by any player in the Bill Self era.
While he soaked up every bit of it, achieving his goal of enjoying a full season of giving it his all, without distractions, and reaping the benefits that followed, Wilson made it clear on Monday that he and his teammates are focused only on winning at this point in the season. Much in the way last season’s team was, as well.
“All these accolades are cool,” he said. “But the team goals mean the most in the end. We’re all just clicking on all cylinders, as far as what we want to do, and now the next step is going to Kansas City and winning that.”
The top-seeded Jayhawks will open play in this year’s Big 12 quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Thursday at T-Mobile Center against the winner of Wednesday’s 8-9 matchup between West Virginia and Texas Tech.
In other Big 12 honors this week, first-year K-State coach Jerome Tang was named the conference’s coach of the year; KSU forward Keyontae Johnson was named Big 12 newcomer of the year; Baylor freshman Keyonte George was named the conference’s freshman of the year; and Texas guard Sir’Jabari Rice was named the best sixth man in the league.
Many of those same names, along with the Jayhawks, figure to land on the Associated Press postseason awards list, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday.
