ST. LOUIS - For the first time in the award's 50 year history, The United States Basketball Writers Association selected co-players of the year in college basketball as Duke's J.J. Redick and Gonzaga's Adam Morrision split the award.

Morrison and Redick are the nation's top two NCAA Division I scorers and will be presented with the Oscar Robertson Player of the Year trophy during a college basketball awards ceremony at Conseco Fieldhouse Friday in Indianapolis, site of the 2006 Final Four.

"About once in a generation, we see a situation where there are two extraordinary players who separate themseleves from the rest of college basketball and clearly stand together as the best in the game," said USBWA President Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"It happened in 1979 with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and the USBWA feels it has happened again with Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick. Our orginazation has never voted for co-players of the year but on this, the 50th anniversary of the USBWA, it seems entirely appropriate to break the precedent in order to honor two equally deserving young men."

Both players were unanimous selections to the USBWA All-America team last week. The USBWA player of the year player of the year award is the only one named after a player. The legendary Oscar Robertson, selected as college player of the century in 2000, was the USBWA's first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.

Redick becomes the fourth Duke player to win the award since 1999 and seventh overall. Jason Williams won in 2002, Shane Battier in 2001, Elton Brand in 1999, Christian Laettner in 1992, Danny Ferry in 1989 and Art Heyman in 1963.

With Redick's honor, Duke has more players honored with the award than any other school and the second most total honorees. UCLA had six players win the award a total of nine times. North Carolina is next with three players honored three times while Cincinnati (two players) and Virginia (one player) had three total honorees, as well. All other ACC schools combined have had six players win the award a total of eight times.

Redick last week repeated as the Adolph Rupp national player of the year winner and was also named the Sporting News national player of the year on March 13, as well.

Hooray for J.J. Redick High 5's all around.

INDIANAPOLIS - J.J. Redick, Duke University's all-everything senior guard, tonight was named the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year presented by Cingular Wireless, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced. Redick accepted the award at the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Guardians of the Game Awards Show at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Redick is the seventh Duke player to win the award, including the fourth in the last eight seasons. Duke associate coach Johnny Dawkins was the first player to win the Naismith in 1986, followed by Danny Ferry (1989), Christian Laettner (1992), Elton Brand (1999), Shane Battier (2001) and Jason Williams (2002).

Duke owns the most players to win the award and the most overall awards. Only UCLA (three players a total of five times), North Carolina (two players, two times) and Indiana (two players, two times) have multiple winners and those three and Virginia (one player, three times) have more than one award.

The Naismith Trophy was presented to Redick by Atlanta Tipoff Club Chairman Jim Williams and Cingular Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Marc Lefar. The Naismith Trophy is given annually to the men's and women's college players of the year and is the most prestigious national award in college basketball. The other Naismith Trophy finalists were Rudy Gay of UConn, Adam Morrison of Gonzaga and Allan Ray of Villanova.

Redick was selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors - a collection of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country - and the fans. Again this year, through the power and ease of text messaging, fans accounted for an unprecedented 25% of the Board of Selectors' overall vote. The results were certified by the accounting firm of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP.

"When you consider all aspects of his game and everything he brings to the floor, there is no doubt Redick is the best player in the country," said Gary Stokan, Atlanta Tipoff Club president. "He helped lead Duke to a great season and, along the way, turned in one of the greatest personal performances of all time. He had a fantastic career for the Blue Devils and really embodies what the Naismith Trophy stands for."

Redick was the nation's No. 2 scorer with an average of 27.4 points per game as the Duke Blue Devils went 32-4 en route to both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles. The 6-foot-4 guard also averaged 2.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game.

A selection to the respective All-America First Teams by the Associated Press and the United States Basketball Writers' Association, Redick was named the ACC's Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Redick is the first player to win in consecutive seasons since Wake Forest's Tim Duncan (1996-97) and joins Danny Ferry (1988-89) as the only Duke players to do it.

"J.J. Redick had an outstanding year and he is an extremely worthy recipient of the Naismith Trophy," said Marc Lefar, chief marketing officer for Cingular Wireless. "Once again Cingular empowered the fans to help anoint this year's winner, making this award truly special. I'd like to thank all the college basketball fans who participated in the voting and made their voice heard."

The most prolific three-point shooter in the history of college basketball, Redick tallied an NCAA-record 457 treys during his career. In 2005-06, Redick made 139 three-pointers on 42.4 percent shooting from behind the arc. He is also second among the NCAA's all-time leaders in free throw percentage at 91.2 percent.

Redick concluded his Duke career with 2,679 points to become the school's and ACC's career scoring leader. He is the 15th player from the ACC to take home the Naismith Trophy. Last year's Naismith Trophy winner was Andrew Bogut of Utah.