KANSAS, CITY-Missouri--Croci was named the Great Lakes District Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after guiding the Tigers to their first outright NCAC title since 2012 with a 16-2 mark against league foes and also helped them earn their first NCAC Tournament crown since 2006 with an 82-70 win over Ohio Wesleyan in the championship game. The Tigers not only swept the regular season NCAC titles, but also opened the season with a remarkable 22-game winning streak, before ending the 2017-18 campaign with a 27-3 record after falling to Wis.-Oshkosh in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Croci was also named the NCAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year for the second time in his career after also earning the recognition as Kenyon's head coach in the 2007-08 season. Croci's NCAC honor served as the sixth time that a Wittenberg coach has won NCAC Coach of the Year. For the second time, Croci stands as the only person to win NCAC Player of the Year and NCAC Coach of the Year.
Wittenberg senior post Chad Roy was also a first-team selection on the All-Great Lakes District first team for the first time in his career. Roy, who is the 33rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points, finished his senior campaign with 481 points (16.0 ppg) and 182 total rebounds (6.1 rpg), while also shooting 63 percent (178-of-283) from the field and 76 percent (121-of-159) at the free throw line. Roy was also selected as the NCAC's Top Defensive Player throughout the conference season after anchoring the Tigers' defensive unit that limited NCAC opponents to a league-low 67.2 points per game. In 18 conference games, he ranked sixth among league players in rebounding with 80 total boards (6.4 rpg) and 16th overall in blocked shots with 10. He notched a pair of double-digit rebounding performances against conference foes with 11 in an 87-67 win over Kenyon and 10 in an 87-58 win at Allegheny, while his season-high mark in blocks also came against an NCAC foe with three in the 76-64 win over DePauw on January 24th.
Wittenberg finished the 2017-18 campagin 27-3 and 16-2 in NCAC play. NCAC coaches voted Wittenberg to finish third in the preseason poll. The Tigers didn't enter the national rankings until Jan. 1. From there Wittenberg has climbed from No. 17 to No. 10 to No. 5 to No. 3 in the D3Hoops.com poll. 22 in a row served as Wittenberg's first double-digit win streak since 2013-14 when they won 11 games in a row, a season that saw the Tigers finish 21-8. Before running the table in NCAC regular season play, the Tigers opened the year with non-conference wins against Mount St. Joseph, Birmingham-Southern, Capital and Otterbein.
Wittenberg was crowned the 2017 NCAC Tournament Champions for the first time since 2005-2006. Wittenberg's last trip to the tournament championship game came in 2013-14 at Wooster. The Tigers made their 35th NCAA Postseason appearance in school history this season. The Tigers last NCAA tournament appearance came in 2014, as Wittenberg holds an overall record of 66-35 in NCAA Play. The Tigers are 17-4 overall in first round play, not including seven byes, and 16-10 in the Round of 32. The Tigers last hosted an NCAA tournament game in 2005- 2006, as Wittenberg was able to win against Lake Erie, Baldwin Wallace, Hope and Transylvania all in Springfield, before winning their Final Four game against Amherst in Salem, Virginia. That year, the Tigers ultimately fell in the Division III National Title game 59-56 to Virginia Wesleyan.
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest "Phog" Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at www.nabc.org.