Trey Burke's 2012-13 season

Michigan point guard Trey Burke was named The Associated Press' college Player of the Year on Thursday in Atlanta. (Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)

Michigan sports administrator Brian Townsend accepts Trey Burke's AP national Player of the Year trophy Thursday in Atlanta.

ATLANTA -- Trey Burke is the top college basketball player in the country, per The Associated Press.

The Michigan sophomore point guard was officially named the AP's 2013 men's College Basketball Player of the Year on Thursday at the Final Four in Atlanta.

"Here he is this cagey sophomore, veteran sophomore," Michigan coach John Beilein said earlier in the day. "Come on, the whole year he has been just as calm and cool as if he was a fifth-year redshirt senior guard. So you look at that. He didn't come in as a freshman, sophomore, he had all these veterans around him, he just has to fill in the pieces, much like he had to do this year."

Burke was not present at the official news conference, as the team is preparing for the Final Four, but Michigan sports administrator Brian Townsend accepted the award on his behalf.

The 6-foot-1 floor leader becomes the first Michigan player since Cazzie Russell (1966) to win the honor.

It's the second national player of the year honor for Burke, who was also named Sports Illustrated's men's player of the year last month.

Burke -- the Big Ten Player of the Year and Michigan's fifth consensus first-team All-American -- is averaging 18.8 points and 6.8 assists per game this season. The only Big Ten player to score at least 15 points in every league game this season, Burke's 253 assists are a single-season Michigan record.

He's also four points away from becoming just the sixth player in school history to log 700 points in a season.

"This team carried itself, he was just out front all of the time so many times," Beilein added. "Those young guys look at Trey, they see poise, they say patience. It's worked very well."

Burke won the 2013 Cousy Award earlier in the day Thursday (nation's top point guard), and is a favorite to win all of the other major national player of the year honors -- the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award. All three will be announced this weekend at the Final Four.

Michigan (30-7) will take on Syracuse (30-9) in the national semifinals on Saturday at the Georgia Dome.

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