The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual basketball award given to the most outstanding intercollegiate men's basketball player in the United States. The award was first given following the 1904–05 season and ceased being awarded after the 1981–82 season. It was the first major most valuable player (MVP) award for men's basketball in the United States, and the Helms Athletic Foundation was considered within the basketball community to be the authority on men's college basketball for that era. Thus, the award was viewed as the premier player of the year award one could receive up until the 1960s, at which point the Naismith College Player of the Year and John R. Wooden Award took over as the national season MVP awards.
^Anderson, Claude (April 7, 1981). "Getting set for run at the roses". The Sun. pp. D-1, D-5. Retrieved May 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. DePaul's Mark Aguirre was player-of-the-year and UC Irvine's Kevin Magee (the only other Southlander selected) made it at a forward.
^"RALPH SAMPSON, JAMES WORTHY TOP 1982 COLLEGE BASKETBALL ALL-AMERICA TEAM SELECTIONS" (Press release). First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation. April 3, 1982. Retrieved May 2, 2020. Virginia's 7' 4" center, RALPH SAMPSON, and North Carolina's 6• 9" forward, JAMES WORTHY, have been chosen College Basketball's Co-Players of the Year for the 1982 season, by First Interstate Bank Athletic Foundation.