Borchert, Muench, Lewis Recognized With District Awards
UW-Oshkosh swept the major National Association of Basketball Coaches NCAA Division III All-District 9 awards as Levi Borchert was voted Player of the Year, Matt Lewis received Coach of the Year laurels and Eddie Muench garnered Second Team honors.
Borchert, a junior forward, is the third consecutive Titan to earn the NABC District Player of the Year award and fifth overall, joining Dennis Ruedinger in 1996, Tim Dworak in 2002, Ben Boots in 2019 and Adam Fravert in 2020.
Lewis was named NABC District Coach of the Year for the second time. He previously received the award in 2019 when he guided UW-Oshkosh to the Division III national title during his debut season at the helm of the Titans. Lewis is UW-Oshkosh's lone recipient of the NABC District Coach of the Year accolade.
Muench, a senior guard, picked up his NABC honor as UW-Oshkosh accounted for two of the 11 total players selected to the two All-District 9 Teams. The Titans also had a pair of players on the All-District Team in 1998, 2019 and 2020.
Rounding out the six-member All-District 9 First Team were Noah Alm from University of Northwestern (Minn.), Ethan Anderson from UW-La Crosse, Joe Palmer from Augsburg University (Minn.), Peter Hagen from University of Dubuque (Iowa) and Quentin Shields from UW-Platteville.
UW-Oshkosh concluded the 2022 season with a 23-4 record, securing the regular season and tournament titles in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference before going on to reach the second round of the Division III Championship.
Lewis and the Titans finished 1.5 games clear of the rest of the WIAC during the regular season en route to winning the 14th title in program history. UW-Oshkosh then won its fifth league postseason championship to clinch an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The Titans, who went into the Division III Championship ranked third in the country by D3hoops.com, compiled a 5-1 record this season against opponents in the top eight in the national poll.
Lewis boasts a 77-18 record since taking over the UW-Oshkosh program during a 2019 campaign in which he was named the NABC and D3hoops.com Division III Coach of the Year. Lewis has led UW-Oshkosh to each of the past three NCAA postseasons, advancing to the second round in both 2020 and 2022 after earning the program's first national championship in 2019.
Borchert, the 2022 WIAC Player of the Year, led the Titans with 18.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while shooting 61.9% from the field. One of just two District 9 players averaging better than 10 points and 10 rebounds this season, Borchert produced a district-leading 15 double-doubles on the year. Borchert also ranks second in District 9 in rebounding and fourth in field goal percentage.
Borchert scored at least 13 points in all but two of UW-Oshkosh's 27 games this season, tallying a career-high 32 points on 14 of 20 shooting from the field to go along with 15 rebounds against UW-River Falls on Jan. 22. Borchert opened January with a stretch of four conference games in which he averaged more than 25 points and 10 rebounds, starting with 23 points on 11 of 12 shooting from the floor and 11 rebounds against UW-Whitewater on Jan. 5. Borchert then compiled 25 points and eight rebounds at UW-River Falls on Jan. 8, and 23 points and nine boards at UW-Platteville on Jan. 19 before exploding for a career-best scoring performance against UW-River Falls.
Borchert's season highs also included 18 rebounds against St. Norbert College on Dec. 21, six assists at Concordia University Wisconsin on Nov. 8 and four steals against Ripon College on Dec. 30.
Borchert, shooting 63.4% from the field during his first three seasons, heads into his senior campaign with career totals of 851 points, 538 rebounds and 98 assists in 63 games played.
Muench was one of the top 3-point shooters in District 9 and finished the season averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest. Muench hit 71 3-pointers on the year at a .366 clip to rank fourth in the district in made 3-pointers and sixth in 3-point percentage.
A starter alongside Borchert for all 27 games this season, Muench scored in double figures on 21 occasions this season. Muench poured in a season-high 30 points against Calvin University (Mich.) on Dec. 29 and had 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the floor, including 7-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc, against UW-La Crosse on Feb. 12.
Muench concluded his three seasons at UW-Oshkosh with 770 points, 160 rebounds, 117 assists and 137 made 3-pointers in 57 games. Muench, who capped his collegiate career with 1,315 points, scored 545 points during two seasons at NCAA Division II member Rockhurst University (Mo.) before transferring to UW-Oshkosh.
All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across Division III. The NABC didn't announce Division III All-District or All-America teams during the 2021 season due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.