School: Wisconsin

Year: Senior

Position: Center

From virtual unknown to preseason Big 10 Player of the Year, it's been quite the 12 months for Frank Kaminsky.

A year ago at this time, Kaminsky was consistently referenced as a center with a decent outside shot who didn't have the body or the game to compete with the other big men in his conference. All that changed for good on Nov. 19. That night, he set a school record by scoring 43 points against North Dakota with a performance that, at the time, appeared to be among the most improbable in the history of college basketball. You see, Kaminsky came into that evening having scored in double figures just five times in 74 games as a Wisconsin Badger. Hours later, he was just the second 7-footer in the last 15 years to score 40 or points in a game (Chris Kaman was the other).

It was easy enough to chalk that performance up as a fluke, except Kaminsky just kept putting up numbers. He continued to display a skilled outside touch when defenders gave him enough room, but could also deftly move to the basket when opposing big men were forced to overextend. All of this led to one of the more surprisingly successful individual seasons in Wisconsin basketball history, and plenty of chatter that Kaminsky would parlay his breakout season into a declaration for the NBA Draft. The big man declined, and later described why on his personal blog.

"I am at the pinnacle of my basketball playing career, at least in my eyes. I know the NBA has their crazy fans and all, but if you look at all of their games, there are games when teams like the Bobcats get hardly any fans, and it looks flat out boring. At the Kohl Center, we play in front of nearly 17,000 fans every single time we step onto the court. When we travel, we play in front of sellout crowds who absolutely hate us. Not because of who is on the team, but because of where we go to school. Who could leave that?"

It's also worth noting that while he's commonly referred to as "Big Frank," Kaminsky's actual nickname is "Fupps" (pronounced "Foops") or "Big Daddy Fupps." If you were still on the fence about this guy, that should have sealed the deal.