Western Athletic Conference

 

DENVER – The 2021 All-WAC teams have been named, following a vote of the WAC's nine head coaches. Utah Valley's Fardaws Aimaq headlines the awards, earning both WAC Player of the Year and WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. Grand Canyon's Asbjørn Midtgaard was named WAC Newcomer of the Year, Tarleton's Freddy Hicks earned WAC Freshman of the Year and UT Rio Grande Valley's Lew Hill was the unanimous choice for the Don Haskin WAC Coach of the Year.

 

Aimaq was named both WAC Player of the Year and WAC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the nation in rebounding at 15.1 per game. He also added 14.5 points per game on offense and his 1.7 blocks per game were a WAC-best. In WAC-only play, he brought down 197 rebounds for an average of 15.2 per game and averaged 1.8 blocks per game against WAC opponents.

 

Midtgaard is the WAC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 14.5 points per game against WAC foes. His .715 field goal percentage against all opponents is the best in Division I this season. Against conference schools, he had a .705 field goal percentage, breaking the conference record of .691 which was previously held by Utah's Danny Vranes in 1978-79.

 

Hicks earned WAC Freshman of the Year after leading all freshman in scoring a 8.6 per game in WAC play. His 6.4 rebounds per game were also tops among freshman in the WAC. His 4.8 defensive rebounds per game ranked fourth among all players in league play.

 

Hill was the unaminous coach for WAC Coach of the Year, albeit under tragic circumstances as the UTRGV head coach passed away on Feb. 7. In five years leading the Vaqueros, he posted a record of 67-78 overall and 28-34 in WAC play. He was an all-state guard at Mount Vernon (N.Y.) High School, an All-American at San Jacinto Junior College and an All-Missouri Valley honoree at Wichita State. Prior to being named head coach at UTRGV, he served as assistant coach at Oklahoma with previous stops at UNLV, Texas A&M, East Carolina, Southeast Missouri State and South Alabama.

 

Four different schools are represented on the first team. Joining Aimaq was GCU's Midtgaard and Alessandro Lever, California Baptist's Ty Rowell and Seattle U's Darrion Trammell.

 

The All-WAC second teamers are Grand Canyon's Jovan Blacksher Jr., California Baptist's Gorjok Gak, Seattle U's Riley Grigsby, NM State's Jabari Rice and Utah Valley's Jamison Overton.

 

The All-Defensive Team is made up of Aimaq, Gak, Midtgaard, NM State's Clayton Henry and UT Rio Grande Valley's Javon Levi. 

 

The All-Newcomer Team consists of Aimaq, Gak, Midtgaard, Trammell and Tarleton's Montre' Gipson.

 

Player of the Year: Fardaws Aimaq, Utah Valley

Newcomer of the Year: Asbjørn Midtgaard, Grand Canyon

Defensive Player of the Year: Fardaws Aimaq, Utah Valley

Freshman of the Year: Freddy Hicks, Tarleton

Don Haskins Coach of the Year: Lew Hill, UT Rio Grande Valley

 

Fardaws Aimaq	Utah Valley	R-So.	C	6-11	Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Alessandro Lever$	Grand Canyon	Sr.	C	6-10	Bolzano, Italy
Asbjørn Midtgaard	Grand Canyon	Sr.	C	7-0	Helsingør, Denmark
Ty Rowell	California Baptist	R-Jr.	G	6-2	Langley, B.C., Canada
Darrion Trammell	Seattle U	So.	G	5-10	Marin City, Calif.

 

Jovan Blacksher Jr.	Grand Canyon	So.	G	5-11	Oakland, Calif.
Gorjok Gak	California Baptist	Gr.	C	6-11	Sydney, NSW, Australia
Riley Grigsby	Seattle U	Jr.	G	6-6	San Jose, Calif.
Jabari Rice#	NM State	R-Jr.	G	6-4	Houston
Jamison Overton	Utah Valley	Sr.	G	6-6	San Diego, Calif.