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Somerset, NJ -- The honors continued to pour in for a quartet of NEC men's basketball student-athletes who were selected to the 2023-24 NABC All-District 15 team.
As far as major honors go, CCSU head coach
Pat Sellers was named the District 15 Coach of the Year. The NEC Coach of the Year piloted the Blue Devils to a share of the NEC regular season crown and a spot in the NEC semifinals. The Blue Devils won 20 games, the most for the program since the 2006-07 season.
It marked the second straight year an NEC coach has won this award. Merrimack's Joe Gallo was honored for the second time following the 2022-23 season.
District 15
First Team
Fred Cleveland Jr. – North Carolina Central
Jordan Derkack – Merrimack
Bryce Harris – Howard
Jordan Jones – Central Connecticut State
Jamarii Thomas – Norfolk State
Second Team
Kaiyem Cleary – Le Moyne
Troy Hupstead – UMES
Allan Jeanne-Rose – Central Connecticut State
Martaz Robinson – Delaware State
Seth Towns – Howard
Merrimack sophomore guard Jordan Derkack, who was named the NEC Player of the Year, was joined on the All-District first team by CCSU senior guard, a second team All-NEC pick.
Le Moyne graduate student swingman Kaiyem Cleary and CCSU senior Allan Jeanne-Rose were both tabbed to the District 15 second team. Both were first team All-NEC selections.
The NABC divides Division I into 24 different districts that are loosely based on conference alignment. District 15 is comprised of all teams from the NEC and the MEAC.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), located in Kansas City, Mo., was founded in 1927 by Forrest "Phog" Allen, the legendary University of Kansas basketball coach. Formation of the NABC began as an emergency measure for the presentation of a united opinion the Joint Basketball Rules Committee, then the central governing authority of the game, announced without notice that it had adopted a change in the rules which virtually eliminated the dribble. Allen, a student of basketball founder James Naismith, organized coaches to take a stand in a nationwide protest which successfully postponed the adoption of the rule change for one year. It is worthy to note that the dribble still is part of the game of basketball. This marked the beginning of this collective group of coaches to serve as Guardians of the Game. Since its inception, the NABC has contributed numerous ideas and programs to help preserve and enhance the positive aspects of college basketball. These initiatives include establishing the original Basketball Hall of Fame (Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame), creating the format for today's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, supporting Coaches vs. Cancer, and building the College Basketball Experience, which houses the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, as part of Sprint Center located in downtown Kansas City, Mo.