At the conclusion of the NCAA men's and women's Division I basketball championships (the "Final Four" tournaments), a media panel selects a Most Outstanding Player (MOP). It is usually awarded to a member of the championship team. There have been 12 instances in which the winner was not from the championship team. The last man to win the award despite not being on the championship team was Akeem Olajuwon (Houston) in 1983. Dawn Staley (Virginia) was the only woman to do so, when she won the award in 1991. In 1944, Arnie Ferrin of Utah was the first freshman to win the award. Past winners An asterisk (*) next to a player's name indicates they did not play for the championship team. NCAA men's Division I MOP award 1939 – Jimmy Hull, Ohio State* 1940 – Marvin Huffman, Indiana 1941 – John Kotz, Wisconsin 1942 – Howie Dallmar, Stanford 1943 – Ken Sailors, Wyoming 1944 – Arnie Ferrin, Utah 1945 – Bob Kurland, Oklahoma A&M 1946 – Bob Kurland, Oklahoma A&M 1947 – George Kaftan, Holy Cross 1948 – Alex Groza, Kentucky 1949 – Alex Groza, Kentucky 1950 – Irwin Dambrot, CCNY 1951 – Bill Spivey, Kentucky 1952 – Clyde Lovellette, Kansas 1953 – B. H. Born, Kansas* 1954 – Tom Gola, La Salle 1955 – Bill Russell, San Francisco 1956 – Hal Lear, Temple* 1957 – Wilt Chamberlain, Kansas* 1958 – Elgin Baylor, Seattle* 1959 – Jerry West, West Virginia* 1960 – Jerry Lucas, Ohio State 1961 – Jerry Lucas, Ohio State* 1962 – Paul Hogue, Cincinnati 1963 – Art Heyman, Duke* 1964 – Walt Hazzard, UCLA 1965 – Bill Bradley, Princeton* 1966 – Jerry Chambers, Utah* 1967 – Lew Alcindor, UCLA 1968 – Lew Alcindor, UCLA 1969 – Lew Alcindor, UCLA 1970 – Sidney Wicks, UCLA 1971 – Vacated† 1972 – Bill Walton, UCLA 1973 – Bill Walton, UCLA 1974 – David Thompson, NC State 1975 – Richard Washington, UCLA 1976 – Kent Benson, Indiana 1977 – Butch Lee, Marquette 1978 – Jack Givens, Kentucky 1979 – Earvin Johnson, Michigan State 1980 – Darrell Griffith, Louisville 1981 – Isiah Thomas, Indiana 1982 – James Worthy, North Carolina 1983 – Akeem Olajuwon, Houston* 1984 – Patrick Ewing, Georgetown 1985 – Ed Pinckney, Villanova 1986 – Pervis Ellison, Louisville 1987 – Keith Smart, Indiana 1988 – Danny Manning, Kansas 1989 – Glen Rice, Michigan 1990 – Anderson Hunt, UNLV 1991