Borchert Named Region Player Of The Year, Plamann All-Region
Junior forward Levi Borchert earned D3hoops.com NCAA Division III Region 9 Player of the Year honors and senior guard Hunter Plamann was selected to the All-Region 9 Third Team as the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball program received multiple regional accolades from the online organization for the third time in the past four years.
Borchert, the 2020 Central Region Rookie of the Year, becomes the first Titan to receive D3hoops.com Region Player of the Year recognition. He was also named the 2022 Region 9 Player of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches after being voted Player of the Year in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Borchert was a D3hoops.com All-Central Region First Team honoree in 2021.
Plamann, an All-WIAC First Team selection, was voted to the All-Region Team for the first time. Plamann is the ninth Titan to earn D3hoops.com All-Region honors since the organization began its awards program in 2002.
UW-Oshkosh previously had a pair of D3hoops.com All-Region players in 2009, 2019 and 2020. Former Titans D.J. Marsh and Dane Seckar-Anderson were chosen to the All-Region Team in 2009, Ben Boots and Jack Flynn in 2019 and Flynn and Adam Fravert in 2020.
Joining Borchert on this year's five-member All-Region 9 First Team were guards Noah Alm from University of Northwestern (Minn.), Joe Palmer from Augsburg University (Minn.), Peter Ragen from University of Dubuque (Iowa) and Ethan Anderson from UW-La Crosse.
Rounding out the five-member All-Region 9 Third Team were Carleton College (Minn.) forward Jeremy Beckler and guards Noah Hanson from UW-River Falls, Derek Gray from UW-Whitewater and Caleb Williams from Macalester College (Minn.).
Macalester College's Abe Woldeslassie was named the Region 9 Coach of the Year while UW-River Falls' Rodrick Payne was tabbed the Region 9 Rookie of the Year.
Borchert and Plamann helped UW-Oshkosh to a 23-4 record this season. The Titans, ranked third in the D3hoops.com poll entering the national tournament, won both the WIAC regular season and postseason championships in the same season for the second time in program history before advancing to the second round of the Division III Championship.
Borchert paced the Titans with 18.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while shooting 61.9% from the field. One of just two Region 9 players averaging better than 10 points and 10 rebounds this season, Borchert produced a region-leading 15 double-doubles on the year. Borchert also ranks second in Region 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, registering 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, enters his senior campaign with career totals of 851 points, 538 rebounds and 98 assists in 63 games played.
Plamann averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-best 4.0 assists to go along with 38 made 3-pointers, a .756 free throw percentage and a 1.84 assist-to-turnover ratio for a UW-Oshkosh team that led Region 9 in winning percentage (.852), average scoring margin (+13.0) and 3-point percentage defense (.272) while ranking second regionally in average rebounding margin (+6.7), third in turnovers per contest (9.4), fourth in scoring defense (65.1), fifth in field goal percentage (.478), eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.27) and ninth in scoring offense (78.1).
Plamann scored in double digits 18 times on the year, scoring a season-high 26 points and dishing out a career-best eight assists against UW-Whitewater on Feb. 24, 24 points at Illinois Wesleyan University on Nov. 13 and 20 points versus UW-Eau Claire on Dec. 1. Plamann's season bests also included 12 rebounds against Carthage College on Nov. 20 and three made 3-pointers on five occasions.
UW-Oshkosh clinched its 14th WIAC regular season title and fifth league tournament title this season. The Titans, who made their sixth consecutive and 11th overall NCAA postseason trip in 2022, won the 2019 Division III title and finished as the national runners-up in 2018.