Los Angeles ? Saint Joseph’s guard Jameer Nelson has amassed quite a trophy collection. The season’s last major player-of-the-year award meant the most to him, though.

Nelson won the John R. Wooden Award on Saturday, and the 93-year-old former UCLA coach made an indelible impression.

“All the trophies mean a lot to me, but just sitting next to coach Wooden means more to me than anything else,” Nelson said. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t express in words how much this means to receive an award with this man’s name on it.”

Saint Joseph’s fell a game short of the Final Four, but Nelson spent the last two weeks of the season picking up honors, including from the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

He also received the Naismith and Adolph Rupp awards and the Bob Cousy Award as the country’s top college point guard.

Nelson averaged 20.6 points, 5.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 steals, finishing as the Hawks’ career leader in scoring and assists.

Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli recalled walking through the Philadelphia airport with Nelson on their way to the Final Four in San Antonio.

“Every five feet there were pictures and autographs. He did it all with a smile and looked people in the eye,” the coach said.

Martelli has been with Nelson on the award circuit.

“Today was the first time I thought he emotionally connected with all of this,” Martelli said. “Today kind of stopped him, and I was pleased by that.”

Nelson led Saint Joseph’s to its first No. 1 ranking and a 27-0 start to the season. The Hawks finished 30-2, losing to Oklahoma State in the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m not going to let that determine my career and my life,” Nelson said. “It hurts, but I’m here with the greatest coach ever.”

“Thanks,” Martelli cracked, and Wooden smiled.

Nelson edged Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor by 193 points in one of the closest votes since the Wooden Award began in 1976. Nelson received 5,408 points to 5,215 for Okafor. Voting closed March 29, a week before Okafor led the Huskies to the national championship.

“We’ve been getting along great, but I packed my boxing gloves just in case,” Okafor said, joking.

Stanford’s Josh Childress was third with 3,052 points; Duke’s Chris Duhon, whose Blue Devils lost to UConn in the national semifinals, was fourth with 2,571; and Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts finished fifth with 2,296.

“I see him as a leader,” Childress said, referring to Nelson. “For 40 minutes, he went out and led his team to wins.”

Stanford’s Mike Montgomery received the Legends of Coaching Award during the ceremony at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.