ONU's Schmidt Repeats As POTY, Roosevelt Tops Men's Basketball Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO --- Regular-season champion Roosevelt University claimed the most accolades and Olivet Nazarene University's Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind.) repeated as the Player of the Year to headline the 2023-24 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball postseason honor roll, which was announced on Wednesday morning by the league office.
Schmidt excelled for the second year in a row both at the conference and national levels, earning league player of the week recognition three times and national honors once. He also placed high atop the leaderboard both locally and nationally en route to keeping the Player of the Year distinction amongst ONU players for the sixth consecutive year.
The senior guard led the league in no less than four categories, while placing among the Top 6 performers in another three areas. His top marks came in scoring (23.9 ppg), field goals made (258), free throws made (162) and assists (164). He was also second in free throw percentage (.862), fifth in steals (44) and sixth in field goal percentage (.530).
On the national stage, Schmidt currently sits fourth in free throws made, fifth in field goals made and sixth in scoring.
Schmidt was also named to the all-conference first team for the third time in his four-year career. He was joined by Indiana University South Bend's Dejon Barney (South Bend, Ind.) as the only two players back from last year's five-member first team.
The other three players earning the recognition for the first time were Roosevelt's Maurice Commander (Chicago, Ill.), Saint Xavier University's Cedric Johnson (Bellevue, Neb.) and Indiana University Northwest's Dannie Smith (Chicago, Ill.).
Smith also captured CCAC Newcomer of the Year honors after placing in the Top 10 in the league in six statistical categories. His top placement was in rebounding, where he averaged 8.2 caroms per game to finish third.
Smith was also sixth in both total field goals made (163) and free throw percentage (.827), seventh in free throws made (91), eighth in scoring (15.9 ppg) and tenth in field goal percentage (.522).
The other three top individual honors went to Indiana South Bend's Micah Poole (Indianapolis, Ind.), Saint Xavier's James Stevenson (Sun River Terrace, Ill.) and Roosevelt head coach Dee Brown.
Poole claimed CCAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades, placing 14th in the league in total steals (35) and blocking six shots. He averaged 9.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, while also recording the ninth-best three-point shooting percentage (.403).
Stevenson gained the conference coaches' nods as the CCAC Freshman of the Year after ranking third in the league in field goal percentage (.586) and averaging 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest. He appeared in 27 of Saint Xavier's 29 games with 22 being starts.
Brown garnered CCAC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Lakers to their first-ever conference regular-season title and a No. 11 national ranking. Roosevelt went 18-2 during the league season and takes its 25-4 overall record into next weekend's NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
Roosevelt earned five awards in all on Wednesday to lead the 12-member league. The Lakers also boasted the most all-conference selections with four.
Claiming four awards each were Indiana South Bend, Saint Xavier, Olivet Nazarene and tournament champion Indiana Northwest. University of St. Francis, St. Ambrose University and Calumet College of St. Joseph each had three honorees, followed by Judson University and Holy Cross College with two each and Governors State University and Trinity Christian College one each.
A total of 36 awards were presented in all, including the five first-team all-conference selections and ten members being named to both the second team and as honorable mention selections. There was also a five-member all-freshman squad.
In the team category, Trinity Christian was recognized as the CCAC Champions of Character team.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.