Frank Kaminsky, John Calipari named AP player, coach of the year

Frank Kaminsky is a big -- 7 feet, to be exact -- reason Wisconsin won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles and made it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.

Kentucky’s John Calipari is the first coach in 24 years to take an undefeated team into the Final Four.

For their efforts, Kaminsky and Calipari have been named the Associated Press’ men’s college basketball player and coach of the year.

Kaminsky, who averaged 18.7 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 54.9% from the field and 41.5% from three-point range, is the first Wisconsin player to win the honor but the third from the Big Ten in the last six seasons. Ohio State’s Evan Turner received it in 2010 and Michigan’s Trey Burke got it in 2013.

All but seven of the 65 national media members who select the AP’s weekly top 25 voted for Kaminsky, with Duke’s Jahlil Okafor getting five votes and Kentucky’s Wille Caulaey-Stein and Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant receiving one each.

Calipari is the third Kentucky coach to receive the award, following Eddie Sutton in 1986 and Tubby Smith in 2003. He got 40 votes, with Virginia’s Tony Bennett receiving nine and Notre Dame’s Mike Brey notching five.

Coaches’ group to address minority hires

A group of prominent black coaches headlined by Smart and Tubby Smith are forming an organization to address the dwindling numbers of minority head coaches in college basketball.

The National Assn. for Coaching Equity and Development is in response to the dissolution of the Black Coaches Assn. Minority coaches held more than 25% of the jobs across the country 10 years ago; the percentage dropped to 22% last year. And another 12 minority coaches have been fired this season.

As the NCAA’s crown jewel — the men’s Final Four — descends on Indianapolis this weekend with all four teams coached by white men, Smith, Smart, John Thompson III and a growing list of some of the game’s most accomplished coaches say they are answering the call from those who came before them to speak up with authority and address the issues that have bubbled back to the surface.

“There hasn’t been a voice for people speaking out and saying, ‘Look, what are you all doing administratively? What’s this about? Why has this all happened?’ And question it,” Smith, who won a national title at Kentucky and now coaches at Texas Tech, told the Associated Press.

Twitter: @chewkiii

Associated Press contributed to this report.