BOSTON, Ma. – Indiana State men's basketball head coach Josh Schertz has been awarded the Hugh Durham award, announced by CollegeInsider.com. The award is presented annually to the top mid-major head coach in college basketball.
 
This award is Coach Schertz's first National Coach of the Year award at Indiana State, going along with the MVC Coach of the Year, and NABC District 16 Coach of the Year this season. Schertz also was named a semifinalist for the 2024 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Jim Phelan award.
 
The third-year coach at Indiana State has guided the Sycamores to a 32-6 overall record heading into the program's first-ever National Invitational Tournament (NIT) championship appearance. The No. 1 seeded Sycamores defeated SMU, Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Utah to advance to the NIT Championship in Indianapolis, held at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Sycamores will play Seton Hall on Thursday, April 4 for the championship.
 
This season the Sycamores, led by Coach Schertz, became the first team in Missouri Valley history to have five players earn spots on All-Conference Teams. Robbie Avila, Ryan Conwell, Jayson Kent, Isaiah Swope, and Julian Larry were each named to All-MVC teams, Conwell earned Newcomer of the Year, and Xavier Bledson won Sixth Man of the Year. Kent and Larry were added to the All-Defensive Team, and Conwell and Swope were named to the All-Newcomer Team.
 
ISU won the MVC regular season championship outright for the first time since 2000 with a 26-5 overall regular season record and 17-3 MVC record. The 17 wins set a program record for wins in the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
The Sycamores head into the NIT Championship Thursday night with a 32-6 record, accounting for the 2nd most single-season wins in Indiana State history. Adding onto the 2023-24 season's history, the Sycamores led the conference in back-to-back seasons in scoring offense (84.4), field goal percentage (50.5%), assists (594), and three-pointers made (currently at 415 in 38 games). The 415 triples have shattered the previous record set by last season's team of 340.
 
Indiana State finished the regular season leading the MVC in multiple categories: scoring offense (84.4 PPG), scoring margin (+12.41), free throw percentage (79.7%), field goal percentage (50.5%), three-point field goal percentage (38.5%), three-pointers made (373), three-pointers per game (10.97), total assists (594), and assists per game (17.5). The Sycamores were No. 1 in the league for both offensive and defensive efficiency.
 
The Sycamores stellar play has earned them national rankings from the AP Top 25, USA TODAY Coaches Poll, and CollegeInsider.com. In the AP poll, ISU was ranked for a week at No. 23 and was No. 24 in the Coaches Poll, both are the highest since the 1978-79 season. Indiana State was ranked No. 1 for three-straight weeks in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll.
 
Coach Schertz led Indiana State to back-to-back postseason appearances, appearing in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) last season, also earning the No. 1 seed in that tournament.

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