Olivet Nazarene's Schmidt Headlines Men's Basketball Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO --- Parity in the league led to parity when it came to the announcement of the 2022-23 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball postseason honor roll, which was announced Monday afternoon.
A total of seven programs that were honored notched at least three awards with no program earning more than five. Even amongst the top individual accolades, those six prizes went to five different programs.
Landing five awards each were regular-season champion Olivet Nazarene University, Roosevelt University, Saint Xavier University and Holy Cross College. Next in line was Trinity Christian with four honors followed by Indiana University South Bend and University of St. Francis gaining three prizes.
Claiming a pair of awards each were Governors State University and Indiana University Northwest. St. Ambrose University, Calumet College of St. Joseph and Trinity International University each earned one spot on the all-conference team with St. Ambrose also collecting the only team award.
Despite the parity, Olivet Nazarene did continue its dominance in two areas with Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind.) being named the CCAC Player of the Year and Nick Birkey gaining CCAC Coach of the Year recognition. Schmidt's announcement means the Player of the Year trophy remains in the hands of a Tiger player for the fifth consecutive year, while Birkey claimed his third straight coaching honor.
Schmidt follows in the footsteps of Nic Reed and Alex Gross, both of whom earned the top conference honor in back-to-back years. The junior guard finished among the top ten players in the league in five separate categories highlighted by his conference-leading 23.5 scoring average, which also ranks sixth-best in the nation.
Schmidt ranked second in the CCAC in assists per game (5.0), third in three-point field goal percentage (.485), fifth in free throw percentage (.833) and tenth in overall field goal percentage (.554), as well.
The only player to repeat on this year's five-member all-conference first team, Schmidt was a seven-time conference player of the week and also captured the award at the NAIA national level once.
Birkey, meanwhile, directed the program to its fifth consecutive regular-season crown and his third as the head coach with its 17-3 mark. The Tigers head to next week's NAIA National Tournament Opening Round with a 23-7 overall record.
Tournament champion Indiana South Bend was the only program to gain two spots on the all-conference first team with Dejon Barney (South Bend, Ind.) and Donyell Meredith II (Indianapolis, Ind.) earning that distinction. The other two spots were claimed by Saint Xavier's Jaeden King (St. Paul, Minn.) and Holy Cross' Tommy Snyder (South Bend, Ind.).
Snyder's honor was one of two for the freshman forward. He was also recognized as the CCAC Freshman of the Year after ranking second in the league in scoring (20.3 ppg), fourth in rebounding (8.6 avg.) and sixth in field goal percentage (.601).
Trinity Christian's Troy Glover (Wheaton, Ill.) was equally as impressive amongst rookie performers. Besides joining Snyder on the five-member all-freshman team, the forward/center gained CCAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Ranking first in the conference in both rebounding (10.3 avg.) and blocks (3.7) elevated Glover to the award. He also ranks third in the nation in blocks and tied for eighth in rebounds.
Other new additions to the conference also came away with top awards. Roosevelt's Maurice Commander (Chicago, Ill.) and Saint Xavier's Cedric Johnson (Bellevue, Neb.) shared CCAC Newcomer of the Year honors. Commander, who joined the Lakers during the second half of the season, made an immediate impact with his 18.4 scoring average (fourth in the league) and 3.3 assists per game.
Johnson ranked in the top 20 in the conference in seven categories with his .414 three-point field goal percentage ranking seventh-best and his .800 free throw mark placing him eighth. He also averaged 14.1 points per game (12th) and 6.2 rebounds per outing (13th).
Rounding out the list of award winners was St. Ambrose University being named the CCAC Champions of Character Team.
A total of 37 individuals in all claimed conference honors broken down into the five-member all-conference first and freshman teams, ten-member second team and 11-member honorable mention squad. The other six awards were the top individual honors.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.