Three teams take top individual honors to headline 2016-17 UMAC men's basketball awards
ST. PAUL, Minn.---Following an exciting 2016-17 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season and conference tournament that saw the championship game take four overtime periods to be decided, the conference handed out postseason awards as selected by conference coaches announced Tuesday.
Regular season and postseason champion University of Northwestern headlined the awards with three players earning All-UMAC recognition, while Brandyn Frelix of Bethany Lutheran College was named the Player of the Year for the top individual honor. Tim Wendel of Crown College was picked as the Freshman of the Year and Scott Sorenson was selected by his peers as the Coach of the Year after leading Northland College to a huge turnaround season in 2016-17.
The champion Eagles saw three seniors earn all-conference recognition with Porter Morrell seeing First-Team honors and Will Gisler and Cody Sprenger picked Second Team. Gisler finished his career with his third All-UMAC honor after missing out last season, while Morrell and Sprenger were both recognized for the second time in their careers. The three players combined for 54.5 percent of the Eagles' scoring this season.
Bethany Lutheran led the conference, though, in scoring en route to a second-place team finish after missing out on the postseason a year ago. The Vikings' success was due in large part to star Brandyn Frelix who closed out his impressive career averaging the fourth-most points in conference play at 17.8 points per game (ppg). The senior forward also recorded 7.9 rebounds per game – fifth-most in UMAC games with all but nine of his rebounds coming on the defensive end.
Frelix was one of the top shooters in the league averaging 51.4 percent from the field and 80.6 percent from the line. He also had the most free throw attempts of any UMAC player in conference games (103). The Vikings' top player was not only impressive in his scoring, but Frelix also helped fuel the offense with 3.6 assists per game which ranked third in conference play. Even more impressive, Frelix put up these impressive numbers averaging just 26.8 minutes per game.
If Frelix is any indication of the strength of where the UMAC was this year, the future looks bright with players like Wendel just starting out. The rookie forward for Crown made quite an impression in his first season with the Storm picking up All-UMAC Second Team honors. He was second in conference scoring with 18.9 ppg and fourth in rebounding with 8.0 per game. The first-year also shot an impressive 52.2 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from beyond the arc for the second-best mark in the league.
Wendel may have made an impression individually, but as a team Northland was one of the best stories in the UMAC this season. Sorenson's squad has shown gradual improvement during his five-year tenure, but this season the LumberJacks jumped from seventh to a fourth-place finish in the standings and earned the team's first postseason appearance since 2004-05. During the season, the LumberJacks managed to upset Northwestern late in the season and scored a key sweep of the University of Minnesota Morris to lock up the No. 4 seed.
Sorenson's team averaged 81.4 ppg and had one of the top scoring defenses this season allowing the fourth-fewest ppg. The Lumber Jacks were second in 3-point shooting (37.9 percent) and made a league-best 10.3 baskets per game from beyond the arc. They also ranked in the top three for 3-point defense (34.7 percent), free throw percentage (75.7), fewest turnovers (10.2 per game), turnover margin (1.63), assist/turnover ratio (1.45) and rebounding defense (35.7 allowed).
Dan Campion was the LumberJacks' top player this season and was among a group of five All-UMAC first team players who ranked in the top seven for scoring averaging 16.3 ppg or more against league opponents. Campion, Frelix, Morrell and CD Douglas of Minnesota Morris were all recognized with an All-UMAC honor for the second time in their careers, while Brandon Newman of the College of St. Scholastica was also a First Team selection after being named the Freshman of the Year last season. Douglas and Frelix were both back-to-back All-UMAC First Team picks.
Gisler is one of just three players who was recognized with All-UMAC honors for the third time in his career. The senior was the 2013-14 Freshman of the Year and has been a First Team pick once (2014-15) and a Second Team pick twice including this season. Austin VanDerHeyden of Crown was the 2014-15 Freshman of the Year – and an Honorable Mention selection – and picked up his second-straight Second Team nod for his third award of his career thus far. Fellow junior Travis Voigt was recognized with his third-consecutive Honorable Mention selection.
Northwestern's Sprenger and Bethany Lutheran's Neil Eichten joined the group of players who earned their second-career All-UMAC selections with Sprenger repeating as an All-Defensive Team pick. Brady Rose of Bethany Lutheran and Tyler Ukkelberg of Minnesota Morris were each picked for the All-Defensive team for the second time in their careers.
Along with Northwestern, Bethany Lutheran also had three players recognized with All-UMAC honors. Crown, Minnesota Morris, Northland, St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota Morris each had two, while North Central had one.
Northwestern won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches and awarded to the team that best represents sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team also had one representative named to the individual sportsmanship award list.
Player of the Year Award* – Brandyn Frelix, Sr., Bethany Lutheran
Freshman of the Year Award# – Tim Wendel, Fy., Crown
Coach of the Year Award – Scott Sorenson, Northland
First-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Dan Campion |
Sr. |
Northland |
Guard |
Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan North |
| CD Douglas |
Jr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Marshall, Minn./Marshall |
| Brandyn Frelix* |
Sr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Forward |
Minneapolis, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper |
| Porter Morrell |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Elk River, Minn./Homeschool |
| Brandon Newman |
So. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Barnum, Minn./Barnum |
Second-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Will Gisler |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville |
| Cody Sprenger |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle |
| Tyler Ukkelberg |
Jr.. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Battle Lake, Minn./Battle Lake |
| Austin VanDerHeyden |
Jr. |
Crown |
Forward |
Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville |
| Tim Wendel# |
Fy. |
Crown |
Forward |
Montivideo, Urugauy/Club Malvin |
Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Shaq Coleman |
Jr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Duluth, Minn./Duluth East |
| Kory Deadrick |
Jr. |
St. Scholastica |
Forward |
Esko, Minn./Esko |
| Neil Eichten |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Wabasso, Minn./Wabasso |
| Rafael Monteiro |
Fy. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Sao Paulo, Brazil/Santa Marcelina College |
| Brady Rose |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson |
| Travis Voigt |
Jr. |
North Central |
Guard |
Green Bay, Wis./N.E.W. Lutheran |
| Thomas Whiting |
Jr. |
Northland |
Forward |
Ashland, Wis./Ashland |
UMAC All-Defensive Team
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Peter Maring |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Harris, Minn./Cambridge Christian |
| Brady Rose |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson |
| Cody Sprenger |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle |
| Tyler Ukkelberg |
Jr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Battle Lake, Minn./Battle Lake |
| Thomas Whiting |
Jr. |
Northland |
Forward |
Ashland, Wis./Ashland |
UMAC Sportsmanship Awards
Team Award – Northwestern
Bethany Lutheran – Jeremy Becker, Jr., Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids
Crown – Jordan Whitcomb, Sr., Hertford, N.C. / Perquimans Country
Martin Luther – Luke Rothe, Sr., Watertown, Wis./Luther Prep
Minnesota Morris – Dylan Erickson, Jr., Milan, Minn./Lac Qui Parle Valley
North Central – Isaiah Rustad, Sr., Hudson, Iowa/Hudson
Northland – Tyler Peterson, Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis South
Northwestern – Aaron Youngberg, Sr., Pocahontas, Iowa/Pocahontas Area
St. Scholastica – Sam Thompson, So., Duluth, Minn./Duluth East
Wisconsin-Superior – Sam Williams, Sr., Brule, Wis./Northwestern H.S.