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College Basketball

From Staff and Wire Reports

Shaquille O’Neal of Louisiana State was awarded the Adolph Rupp Trophy as the Associated Press player of the year. The award will be presented to O’Neal in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. LSU lost to Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA tournament two weeks ago.

O’Neal is only the fourth sophomore to win the Rupp Trophy, named for the late Kentucky coach. The others were UCLA’s Bill Walton in 1972, DePaul’s Mark Aguirre in 1980 and Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1981. UCLA’s Lew Alcindor also was player of the year in 1967 as a sophomore before the Rupp Trophy was instituted.

O’Neal was a first-team All-American, averaging 27.6 points, 14.7 rebounds and 5.4 blocked shots a game.

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