USI’s Nelson, Truman’s Carlson Share GLVC MBB Player of the Year Honors

3/4/2014 3:20:45 PM

Jeff Smith, Assistant Commissioner

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INDIANAPOLIS – For just the third time in 35-year history of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, two men’s basketball players have been named GLVC Player of the Year.  The league office announced Tuesday that University of Southern Indiana senior forward Aaron Nelson and Truman State University senior forward Mike Carlson have shared the league’s top honor, following a vote by all 16 conference coaches.  In addition, William Jewell College freshman forward D’Vante Mosby and University of Indianapolis head coach Stan Gouard were recognized as the 2014 GLVC Freshman and Coach of the Year, respectively, while 22 All-Conference honorees and 11 All-Defensive Team members were also announced.

Nelson enters this week’s Deaconess GLVC Championship Tournament averaging a double-double for the year as he has topped the nation with 13.2 rebounds per game while ranking fourth in the GLVC in scoring with 19.8 points each time out.  He posted a double-double in 22 of his 25 games this season, which ranks second nationally.  Nelson sits sixth among the conference’s top shooters having hit 195 of his 323 attempts on the year for a clip of 60.3 percent.  The Chicago Heights, Ill., native tallied three games of 30 or more points on the year (including another with 29 points), highlighted by an impressive 31-point, 27-rebound effort against Kentucky State on Dec. 7.  A month later, he posted 24 points and 23 rebounds against Missouri S&T.  Nelson is the ninth Screaming Eagle to have ever won the GLVC Player of the Year award and the first since Jamar Smith in 2010.  Prior to Smith’s honor, USI’s last Player of the Year came in 2006 when Chris Thompson shared the award with Saint Joseph’s Sullivan Sykes – the last time the GLVC’s top accolade was split.  The first shared honor came in 2002 when Kentucky Wesleyan College teammates Ronald Evans and Tyrus Boswell were recognized as the league’s top players.

Carlson, who joined Nelson as the only two-time GLVC Player of the Week honorees this season, ranked third overall in the league with 21.3 points per game and was second in conference-games only with 22.6 points each time out.  The Superior, Wis., native also finished eighth among GLVC rebounders with 7.2 caroms per outing.  Carlson earned the league’s final Player of the Week honor of the season on Monday, after scoring 40 points in the Bulldogs’ regular-season finale against Quincy.  He netted a program-high and conference season-high 48 points against Missouri S&T in late January and finished the year with a league-best total of six games scoring 30 points or more.  Carlson’s Player of the Year distinction is not just the first for any sport at the first-year GLVC member, but it’s also the first time a Bulldog basketball player has ever been recognized in any league as Player of the Year.  In addition to the top honor, Carlson was also one of three unanimous first-team All-Conference selections along with an All-Defensive Team honoree.

Mosby concluded his first season at William Jewell with 10 double-doubles on the season and averages of 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, the latter of which was fourth in the conference.  His top performance came back on Feb. 15 against Illinois Springfield when he ended with 19 points and 15 rebounds.  The Independence, Mo., native is the first major award winner in Jewell’s men’s basketball history.  

Gouard earns the first GLVC Coach of the Year accolade of his career, however it’s not the first major postseason award he has received from the conference.  A former two-time national player of the year at Southern Indiana, Gouard was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year following the 1993-94 campaign.  Now in his sixth season at the helm of UIndy, Gouard has led his Greyhounds from being unranked at the beginning of the season to as high as No. 4 in the NABC Division II Coaches Poll two weeks ago.  The ninth-ranked Hounds shared the GLVC East Division Championship with UW-Parkside and enter this week’s postseason tournament as the No. 3 seed at 23-3 (15-3 GLVC) overall.  Gouard mentored four postseason honorees this year, including first-team All-GLVC picks Joe Lawson and Reece Cheatham.  Tyrae Robinson was a second-team honoree along with an All-Defensive Team pick, while Brennan McElroy was the lone unanimous selection on the coaches’ All-Defensive Team.   Gouard is just the second UIndy leader to have ever won GLVC Coach of the Year accolades as Royce Waltman earned back-to-back honors in 1996 and 1997.

In addition to Truman’s Carlson, two other players were recognized as unanimous All-Conference honorees.  Drury University sophomore Kameron Bundy (18.1 ppg) and Missouri S&T senior Bryce Foster (21.6 ppg) joined Carlson to lead eight other individuals on the All-GLVC First Team, which was originally divided equally to include five members from both the East and West Divisions, but increased to 11 when there was a tie in the East.  Eleven members were also named as second-team All-GLVC honorees, following a tie in the West.

A complete list of the 2013-14 GLVC All-Conference teams and postseason honors follows.

2014 GLVC Co-Player of the Year:  Aaron Nelson, Southern Indiana Mike Carlson, Truman State 2014 GLVC Freshman of the Year:  D’Vante Mosby, William Jewell 2014 GLVC Coach of the Year:  Stan Gouard, Indianapolis

2014 First-Team All-Conference* Keisten Jones, BU, Sr., G KAMERON BUNDY, DU, So., G Reece Cheatham, UINDY, Sr., G Joe Lawson, UINDY, Jr., C Ryan Jackson, LEWIS, Jr., G Asa Toney, MU, Sr., G BRYCE FOSTER, S&T, Sr., F Tylor Wimbish, UMSL, Jr., F Aaron Nelson, USI, Sr., C MIKE CARLSON, TSU, Sr., F Zygimantas Riauka, UWP, Jr., C All CAPS are Unanimous selections

2014 Second-Team All-Conference* Cameron Adams, DU, Jr., F Tyrae Robinson, UINDY, Sr., G Jeff Jarosz, LEWIS, Jr., G Mudi Eruteya, S&T, Sr., G Chris Babbitt , QU, Sr., G/F Brandon McCann, RU, Sr., G Cameron Vines, SJC, Jr., G Reed Mells, TSU, Jr., G Seth Jackson, TSU, Jr., G/F Jimmy Gavin, UWP, So., G Colt Grandstaff, UWP, Sr., G

2014 All-Defensive Team* Ian Carter, DU, Sr., F Drake Patterson, DU, Jr., G BRENNAN MCELROY, UINDY, Jr., F Tyrae Robinson, UINDY, Sr., G Julian Lewis, LEWIS, Jr., F Mudi Eruteya, S&T, Sr., G Gavin Schumann, USI, Jr., G Mike Carlson, TSU, Sr., F Reed Mells, TSU, Jr., G Colt Grandstaff, UWP, Sr., G Zygimantas Riauka, UWP, Jr., C *11 Members due to tie