Country United States First awarded 2010 | Official website Website | |
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Currently held by | ||
The Lou Henson Award is an award given annually by CollegeInsider.com to the most outstanding mid-major men's college basketball player in NCAA Division I competition. The award, established in 2010, is named for legendary Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lou Henson. Henson, who also coached at Hardin-Simmons and New Mexico State, compiled 779 all-time wins. He is in the top 10 of NCAA coaching wins in men's basketball history.
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Background
At the same time the Henson Award was established, CollegeInsider.com also created the Lou Henson All-America Team, consisting of the 30 players that its selection committee deems to be the top Division I mid-major players. Unlike most other All-America teams in basketball and other sports, the Henson All-America Team is not divided into different grades (e.g., first team, second team, third team, honorable mention)—all players are treated equally as All-Americans.
Starting with the 2011–12 season, the number of Henson All-Americans was reduced to 25. This coincided with the decision of CollegeInsider.com to establish a Lute Olson All-America Team in conjunction with its Lute Olson Award for the top player who has played at least two years at his current school. The Olson All-America Team also has 25 members; unlike the Olson or Henson Awards, the team is open to all players regardless of their year of attendance or conference affiliation. Players on the Olson All-America team, even if they come from mid-major schools, are not eligible for the Henson Award.
Definitions of the term "mid-major" in the context of college basketball vary widely. For purposes of both the Henson All-America Team and Henson Award, CollegeInsider.com has established its own definition of the term, which includes the following conferences, as well as any basketball independents (there have been none since NJIT joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2015):
The list of eligible conferences has always excluded all conferences that sponsor FBS football except for the MAC and the Sun Belt. The Atlantic 10 Conference, which has not sponsored football at all since 2006, has also been excluded throughout the award's history. Following major conference realignment that peaked in 2013, the WAC, which dropped football after the 2012 season, was added to the eligible list, while both offshoots of the original Big East Conference—the FBS American Athletic Conference and the current non-football Big East—were excluded from eligibility.
Players from eligible conferences ineligible for the award
Since the 2011–12 season, when the Olson All-America Team was established, players named to that team have been ineligible for the Henson Award, even if they played at eligible schools. The following players were ineligible for the Henson Award due solely to being named to the Olson All-America Team: Individuals in bold were consensus first- or second-team All-Americans in the same season.