2023-24 All-PacWest Teams
IRVINE, Calif. – Following one of the best seasons in Academy of Art men's basketball history that included a tie for the program record of 20 regular season wins and the first Regular Season Championship for the Urban Knights, more ART U history has been made as multiple members of ART U have collected postseason honors from the Pacific West Conference for the first time ever.
"I have never been a big fan of individual awards because basketball is a team game," said ART U Head Coach Scott Waterman. "But when you have team success, it is great to be acknowledged by the PacWest coaches for your accomplishments. I could not be more proud, not just for the guys who received the accolades, but for the entire program and how far it has come over the past five years."
Senior forward Latrell Williams triple-dipped on the postseason awards, as he has officially been named PacWest Player of the Year, PacWest Defender of the Year, and is a member of the 2023-24 All-PacWest First Team. This season, Williams plastered his name all over ART U program history, becoming the career leader in steals (155), rebounds (737), and double-doubles (25) while bettering his single-season record in rebounds (256) from just last season. Williams is the first player in program history to earn Player of the Year and the second to be named Defender of the Year after Klay Brown in 2021-22.
"Latrell is incredibly deserving of being named PacWest Conference MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and All-PacWest First Team," Waterman said. "This is a great way to cap off his three years at ART U where he has rewritten the record books and has become the winningest player in program history. There is a correlation between him being on the court and our team's success on the scoreboard. I could not be prouder of him and all his accomplishments."
The Gary, Ind. native was a machine for the Knights this season, bringing in the team-high in rebounds per game (9.1) while his average ranked second in the conference. Williams was also near the leaders in the conference in multiple categories, as he ranked fourth in steals per game (1.9), held a top 10 finish in field goal percentage (.422), and ranked top 20 in points per game (12.8). Williams saw his season-high in points (23) come against on Dec. 7 while matching that total just three days later against Chaminade on Dec. 10. His best rebounding performance (18) came against Dominican on Jan. 20 and he closed out the regular season campaign with the most steals in a game he had all year (5) against Point Loma on Mar. 2.
Joining Williams on the 2023-24 All-PacWest First Team is junior forward Jamal Fuller, who delivered multiple displays of quality contributions towards the team's success throughout the season as he was not just the scoring leader on the team (18.0 points per game), but was the leader for the entire conference. Fuller consistently put up quality shots with one of the three best field goal percentages in the PacWest (.527), was named the PacWest Player of the Week on Nov. 27, and, with 503 points thus far, he currently sits just 13 points from breaking the program's single-season scoring record (515).
"Jamal's ability to score the ball was a huge part of our success this year as seen by him leading the PacWest in scoring at 18 points per game," Waterman said. "Over the last year he has continued to improve and more importantly, thrived in the new role he stepped into this year. Being named All-PacWest First team is a testament to his basketball abilities on both ends of the court."
Fuller showed time and time again what he can do on the floor in terms of scoring, as he scored 15 or more points on 20 occasions in the campaign. During Fuller's Player of the Week run, he contributed a season-high 33 points on Nov. 22 in a win against Stanislaus State while tacking on another 32 (including 10 made three throws) just two days later against Saint Martin's on Nov. 24. Fuller collected double-digit rebounds on two occasions, with the first taking place on Dec. 10 and the other on Jan. 13, both against Chaminade. In addition, Fuller racked in the most steals of his career in a game against Azusa Pacific on Dec. 7.
The third member of ART U who has received postseason honors for the Knights is junior guard Rodney Munson, who has been named a member of the 2023-24 All-PacWest Third Team. Munson was not only a perimeter threat out on the arc for defenses to look out for with his team-high three-point shooting field goal percentage (.417), but was also a savvy guard who wasn't afraid to drive to the rim. While he demonstrated his ability to score from anywhere on the floor throughout the year, Munson scored a season-best 22 points on 9-for-11 shooting against Point Loma on Feb. 3 and proved he could lead a team to a hard-fought win, even with a stacked roster. Proving he shows up for the squad on both ends of the floor, Munson collected his season-high in steals (5) on Nov. 24 against Saint Martin's and dished the rock for his best assists (5) on four separate occasions.
"Rodney was a huge part of our team's success this year and I am glad the coaches recognized this by voting him an All-PacWest player," Waterman said. "Rodney's shooting ability has sparked us throughout the season and he has developed into a playmaker because of his athleticism and ability to get into the paint."
One last regular season award came for ART U, and this time was for the coaching staff as Head Coach Scott Waterman received Coach of the Year honors for the team's 2023-24 campaign. Leading the Knights to a PacWest Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history, ART U ranked first in the conference in points per game (80.7), first in turnover margin (6.04) and sixth in NCAA Division II, and first in the conference in steals per game (10.64) while it was ninth in NCAA DII. This season, Waterman's squad saw seven PacWest weekly awards go to his players with five of those being Defender of the Week.
"It is an honor to be acknowledged by my colleagues as PacWest Coach of the Year," Waterman said. "However, this is a program award because I could not do it without my great assistant coaches Booker Harris, Gabe Palmquist-Clark, and Ayad Bunni and the 13 young men I get to work with every day. Winning games isn't easy and throughout the season we faced adversity, but we all stuck together and again raised the bar of Academy of Art basketball and that is what I am most proud of."
This is the second consecutive year that three Urban Knights have been named to an All-PacWest Team and seventh straight year with at least one. Williams and Fuller are a few of the only Knights to be listed onto the All-PacWest First Team, with only Stefan Milivojevic (2019-20) and Andrija Blatancic (2018-19) coming before them. This is Williams' second All-PacWest Team award as well as Waterman's second time being named Coach of the Year after both previously earned honors in 2022. Though nine others have earned singular distinctions across all Academy of Art sport programs, Waterman is the second to be selected Coach of the Year more than once for the same program.
