SALEM, Va. – Roanoke College's Josh Freund has been named the 2018 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Freund was also named First-Team All-ODAC and was joined on the all-conference team by C.J. Miles who was a second-team selection.
Freund becomes the first Maroon to earn ODAC Player of the Year honors since RC Hall of Famer Jason Bishop earned the accolade back in 1997.
Freund, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., has been a near-dominant force on the block for Roanoke, featured by a pair of ODAC Player of the Week awards and a national Division III Player of the Week honor from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Freund is second in the conference in both scoring (18.4) and rebounding (10.4), helping him to a league-high 12 double-doubles. He leads the ODAC in field goals made (178-of-287), field goal shooting (.620), and defensive rebounds (185), while ranking third in free throws made (104-of-124), fourth in offensive rebounds (76), and sixth in free throw shooting (.839).
Since the turn of the calendar, Freund has been especially effective in registering each of his conference-best three 30-point outings and nine double-doubles. His 19 rebounds at Bridgewater in mid-January are the most pulled down by an ODAC player this season. During Roanoke's nine-game winning streak on the way to the #2 seed in the ODAC Tournament, Freund averaged 20.6 points and 13.1 rebounds and shot 66-of-106 (.623) from the floor.
It's Miles second consecutive year on the second-team. The junior from Richmond, Va. closed the regular season averaging 14.5 points per game which is 13th best in the ODAC. His 44.1% shooting from three-point land is third best in the league, while his 63 made three-point attempts is fourth most. He has connected on 84.4% of his free-throw attempts which ranks fourth in the league, while 81 made attempts from the charity stripe is eighth most in the league.
2018 ALL-ODAC MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Kurt Axe Memorial Player of the Year: Josh Freund, Jr., F, Roanoke
Bob Johnson Coach of the Year: Josh Merkel, Randolph-Macon
ODAC Rookie of the Year: Dimetri Chambers, Fr. G, Bridgewater
ODAC/Va. Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete: Nicholas George, Sr., F, Washington and Lee
| ALL-ODAC FIRST TEAM | |||
| Chase Branscomb | Sr. | F | Emory & Henry College |
| Marcus Curry | Jr. | F | Guilford College |
| Josh Freund | Jr. | F | Roanoke College |
| Devin Kearns | Jr. | G | Washington and Lee University |
| Clayton Murtha * | Sr. | F | Washington and Lee University |
| Connor Schroeder # | Jr. | F | Lynchburg College |
| ALL-ODAC SECOND TEAM | |||
| Montese Adams | Jr. | F | Randolph-Macon College |
| Carson Long * | Jr. | F | Guilford College |
| C.J. Miles # | Jr. | G | Roanoke College |
| John Shelor | Sr. | G | Emory & Henry College |
| Lamont Steward | So. | G/F | Virginia Wesleyan University |
| Alic Wynn | Jr. | F | Emory & Henry College |
| ALL-ODAC THIRD TEAM | |||
| Dimetri Chambers | Fr. | G | Bridgewater College |
| Malik Crute | Jr. | G | Hampden-Sydney College |
| Ryan Fields ^ | Sr. | G | Randolph College |
| Roy McMillan | Jr. | F | Washington and Lee University |
| Colin Molden + | So. | G | Emory & Henry College |
| Daniel Noe # | Sr. | F | Randolph-Macon College |
| * 2017 All-ODAC First Team # 2017 All-ODAC Second Team ^ 2017 All-ODAC Third Team + 2017 ODAC Rookie of the Year |
|||