Men's Basketball Trio Earns D3hoops.com All-Region Accolades

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - A pair of student-athletes from the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team have been named D3hoops.com (D3hoops) All-Region for the 2022-23 season, it was announced by the association Tuesday. Graduate student wing Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) was named to the All-Region I First Team, while senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) was named to the All-Region I Second Team. Second-year head coach Glen Miller also received distinction, being named the D3hoops Region I Coach of the Year.

COMPLETE D3HOOPS RELEASE

D3HOOPS ALL-REGION I RELEASE

For D3hoops All-Region, student-athletes were nominated by Sports Information Directors at the various schools. There were 798 players nominated nationwide between men's and women's basketball. The regional Rookie of the Year award honors the top freshman in each region, while D3hoops also names a regional Coach of the Year.

Division III split up basketball into 10 regions this season. A region with 40 teams or more has three All-Region teams honored, while a region with fewer than 40 teams has a first and second team. Players from these lists are eligible for the D3hoops All-America teams. The men's team will be released on March 18 at the national championship game. For the complete list of Region I winners, please see below:

D3HOOPS REGION I

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Alex Sobel, F, Middlebury
COACH OF THE YEAR: Glen Miller, Saint Joseph (CT)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Aaron Nkrumah, G/F, Worcester State

O'Neill paced the USJ offense in 2022-23, finishing as the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points per game. The Litchfield, Conn. native shot lights out from the floor, posting a 45.2 percent shooting clip from the field and a 39.1 percent mark from long range. The graduate student also hauled in 3.9 rebounds per game, while playing a role in a defense that currently ranks first in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (35.9 percent) and three-point field-goal percentage defense (27.0 percent). In addition to the D3hoops accolade, O'Neill was also named to the All-GNAC First Team for the first time in his career earlier this season.

Martin was a jack-of-all trades at the point guard position for the Blue Jays in 2022-23, finishing second on the team in scoring (11.8 ppg), while grabbing 3.2 rebounds and dishing out 3.3 assists per game. The Hartford native was a menace on defense, leading the team with 1.7 steals per game. As a result of his stellar play, Martin repeated as an All-GNAC First Team selection for the third consecutive season when the conference announced its year-end awards following the conclusion of the GNAC Tournament.

Coach Miller, along with O'Neill and Martin, helped propel the Blue Jays to a historic 2022-23 campaign, guiding the team to a 29-2 overall record and the team's third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The season saw the Blue Jays take hold of the No. 1 ranking in the nation according to D3hoops.com, holding onto the top spot for nine consecutive weeks. USJ earned the GNAC's first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and hosted the first two rounds for the first time in GNAC and program history. The Blue Jays went on to earn the first-ever NCAA Tournament victory across all 16 programs in USJ school history, defeating Chatham University in the First Round. They then defeated Williams College in the Second Round to become just the third-ever GNAC school to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in men's basketball. The men's basketball team's historic run then came to a close in the Sweet Sixteen, falling to Wheaton College (Ill.).

Follow USJ Athletics
For the latest on University of Saint Joseph athletics, follow the Blue Jays on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Fans can also download the USJ Front Row Mobile App and subscribe to our Newsletter and Text Alerts. #FearTheFlock #GoBlueJays