Player of the Year
There are many deserving candidates for player of the year in the Summit League this year too. Nothing highlights this better than the fact that five players received votes for player of the year from our voters. These players included South Dakota’s Stanley Umude and AJ Plitzuweit, Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor, and South Dakota States’ Baylor Scheierman.
In the end, the Award goes to Oral Roberts Sophomore guard Max Abmas. While not necessarily surprising given Abmas is the leading scorer in the nation, the voting was incredibly close. Let’s dig in just a bit to the numbers. As was mentioned above Abmas leads the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game. That’s not the end of the impressive statistics for Abmas though. Abmas shot 46% from behind the arc on almost 9 3 3-point attempts per game. Abmas averaged 39.5 minutes per game in conference play, which basically means he averaged resting for 30 seconds. Just look at where Abmas ranked statistically during conference play, 1st in scoring, 3rd in ft percentage, 1st in 3-point percentage, 4th in steals, 4th in assists, 2nd in assist to turnover ratio, and 7th in field goal percentage. When you start digging into the numbers, it’s clear we just witnessed one of the best statistical seasons ever by a Summit League Player.
Newcomer of the Year
*Note: only Kansas City Players playing for the first time on Kansas City’s roster were eligible for the award even though all were new to the Summit League
While there was plenty of debate over who the player of the year should be, that wasn’t the case for newcomer of the year. AJ Plitzuweit was the nearly unanimous choice by voters for newcomer of the year. The thing is it’s not because of lack of competition, Will Carius and RJ Glasper are just two fantastic examples of great seasons by Summit League newcomers. The reason Plitzuweit ran away with the award is that Plitzuweit had that good of a season. The transfer from division 2 Augustana averaged 19 points, 4.2 rebound, and 3.9 assists. Those numbers were even more popping in conference play, where Plitzuweit averaged 22.2 points per game. During Summit League play Plitzuweit was second in the league in scoring, 3rd in assists, 2nd in 3 point percentage, and led the league in free-throw percentage. Many good years still to come for the sophomore.
Freshman of the year
From day one Tyree Ihenacho was given the keys to the North Dakota offense. Ihenacho took the keys and ran with them. Ihenacho was a do-everything guard for the Fighting Hawks all season. The 6’4 point guard averaged 8.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game. Ihenacho was 11th in rebounding during conference play and 2nd in assists during conference play. The future is bright for the guard out of Prior Lake, Minnesota.
Defensive Player of the Year
Brandon McKissic and Kansas City joined the Summit this year with a reputation for defense. McKissic was a 2x all WAC defensive team member while the Roos were members of the WAC. McKissic spearheaded a Kansas City defensive attack that consistently harassed opponents all season. McKissic averaged a career high 1.6 steals per game this season and that ballooned to an eye-popping 2.2 steals per game during Summit League play.
Coach of the Year
Most publications and preseason polls picked the South Dakota Coyotes in the middle of the Summit League standings at the beginning of the year. At the time this was understandable as South Dakota was replacing a core of senior starters and had as many as 7 rotation players that were new to the team from last year. The beginning of the season the team looked like a team full of players that were trying to figure out how to gel. Coach Todd Lee was our unanimous pick for Coach of the year because of how that team came together. The Coyotes finished the season 11-4 in conference play and 2nd in the conference by a razor thin margin.
Our all Conference teams
All-Summit 1st Team
G Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
G AJ Plitzuweit, South Dakota
G Stanley Umude, South Dakota
G Baylor Scheierman, South Dakota State
F Kevin Obanor, Oral Roberts
F Filip Rebraca, North Dakota
All-Summit 2nd Team
G Brandon McKissic, Kansas City
G Jase Townsend, Denver
F Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
F Rocky Kreuser, North Dakota State
F Will Carius, Western Illinois
All-Summit Honorable Mention
G Ayo Akinwole, Omaha
G Sam Griesel, North Dakota State
G Tyree Eady, North Dakota State
F Matt Pile, Omaha
F Josiah Allick, Kansas City
All-Summit Newcomer
G AJ Plitzuweit, South Dakota
G Xavier Fuller, South Dakota
G RJ Glasper, Oral Roberts
G Caleb Nero, North Dakota
F Tamell Pearson, Western Illinois
F Will Carius, Western Illinois
All-Summit Freshmen
G Tyree Ihenacho, North Dakota
G La’Mel Robinson, Omaha
G Ramean Hinton, Western Illinois
G Jacob Johnson, Kansas City
F Sam Hines, Denver
F Grant Nelson, North Dakota State