CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The coaches have selected the 2024-25 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Men’s Basketball postseason award selections. These student-athletes have distinguished themselves through a challenging conference regular season schedule. 
 
Coaches from the conference nominated and selected this year’s all-conference team, recognizing eight on the first-team and eight on the second-team. In addition to honoring the all-conference team, the release also recognizes the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year. 
 

2024-25 All-American Rivers Conference Men's Basketball Team
Player of the Year - Jaylin McCants, University of Dubuque
Defensive Player of the Year - Jack Groeteke, Nebraska Wesleyan University
Rookie of the Year - Jacob Williams, University of Dubuque
Coach of the Year - Robbie Sieverding, University of Dubuque
Player of the Year	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Jaylin McCants # % ~	University of Dubuque	Sr.	G	Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg
Defensive Player of the Year
Jack Groeteke -h1	Nebraska Wesleyan University	Sr.	F	Johnston, Iowa/Dowling Catholic
Rookie of the Year
Jacob Williams	University of Dubuque	Fr.	F	Dubuque, Iowa/Dubuque Senior
First Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Josh Van Gorp ! -h3 @	Central College	Fifth Yr.	C	Pella, Iowa/Pella Christian
Bennett Sherry $	Coe College	Sr.	F	Fitchburg, Wis./Verona Area
Tyler Bass $ &	Loras College	Sr.	F	Washington, Ill./Washington
Gavin Sarvis	Loras College	Jr.	G	Elgin, Ill./Burlington Central
Jacob Williams	University of Dubuque	Fr.	F	Dubuque, Iowa/Dubuque Senior
Carter Glenn # -h2	Nebraska Wesleyan University	Sr.	G	Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East
Jack Groeteke -h1	Nebraska Wesleyan University	Sr.	F	Johnston, Iowa/Dowling Catholic
Marshun Williams $	Wartburg College	Fifth Yr.	F	Chicago, Ill./Lindbolm Math & Science Academy
Second Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Zane Neubaum # % &	Buena Vista University	Grad.	G	Rockwell City, Iowa/South Central Calhoun
Gunner Reed $	Buena Vista University	Grad.	F	Altura, Minn./Lewiston-Altura
Owen Schipper	Central College	Fr.	F	Waukee, Iowa/Waukee
Cooper Nailor	Coe College	Jr.	G	Indianola, Iowa/Indianola
Grady Thompson	University of Dubuque	So.	G	Princeton, Ill./Princeton
Jalen Scott	University of Dubuque	Sr.	G	Surprise, Ariz./Paradise Honors
Jack Haynes	Loras College	Jr.	F	Streator, Ill./Streator Township
Connor Brown	Nebraska Wesleyan University	Sr.	F	Waimea, Hawaii/Parker
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Carter Sievers	Buena Vista University	So.	G	Albert City, Iowa/Newell-Fonda
Kaleb Brand $	Central College	Fifth Yr.	G	Mount Vernon, Iowa/Mount Vernon
Karson Wehde	Central College	So.	F	Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny
Cole Hrubes	Coe College	Jr.	G	Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Kennedy
Sunday John	University of Dubuque	Sr.	G	Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon
Mikkel Schutte	Luther College	Fifth Yr.	G	Houston, Minn./Houston
Levi Gurwell	Simpson College	Jr.	G	Winterset, Iowa/Winterset
Luke Ladwig	Wartburg College	Jr.	G	Blair, Neb./Blair
Previous Honors
! - 2023-24 Player of the Year
# - 2023-24 First-Team All-Conference
$ - 2023-24 Second-Team All-Conference
-h1 - 2023-24 Honorable Mention
@ - 2022-23 Player of the Year
~ - 2022-23 First-Team All-Conference
& - 2022-23 Second-Team All-Conference
-h2 - 2022-23 Honorable Mention
% - 2021-22 Second-Team All-Conference
-h3 - 2021-22 Honorable Mention

NOTE: The Player of the Year shall have standing as an All-Conference player but is not a member of the first or second team. 
NOTE: The Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year are not honored as All-Conference unless selected to the first or second team by the coaches. 
 
The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced today its major men’s basketball awards and the 17-member All-Conference team for the 2024-25 season. University of Dubuque’s Jaylin McCants was named the American Rivers Conference Player of the Year, Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Jack Groeteke was selected Defensive Player of the Year, and UD’s Jacon Williams was voted Rookie of the Year. University of Dubuque head coach Robbie Sieverding earned the honor of American Rivers Conference Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career after leading the Spartans to a 14-2 finish in league play to earn the regular season title. 
 
McCants is picking up his fourth all-conference selection. He has previously been selected first-team on two occasions (2022-23 and 2023-24) and second-team during the 2021-22 season. He is the eighth player from UD to be named conference player of the year joining Bob Finnegan (1969 & 1970), Robin Davis (1983), Tim Lundquist (1985 & 1986), Todd Millon (1988), Dave Crawford (1990 & 1991), Andre Norris (2015 & 2016), and Peter Ragen (2021 & 2022). In 16 league contests, McCants led the Spartans in points per game with 19.1. His scoring average ranked second in the league. He recorded 40 assists and 32 steals throughout conference action. On one occasion, McCants dropped 41 points in a conference contest. 
 
Groeteke was a defensive threat throughout the entire conference season. He is just the second Prairie Wolf to be named defensive player of the year joining Ryan Garver (2018 and 2019). The blocking machine posted 33 blocks (2.2 bpg) through the 16 conference contests. Additionally, he averaged 16.1 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game. Groeteke led the league in free throw percentage at 88.5% and additionally led the league in blocks per game. Groeteke was also voted to first-team all-conference for the first time in his career after earning honorable mention honors last season. 
 
Jacob Williams of UD picks up the first ever rookie of the year honor. In his freshman campaign, he was third on the Spartan roster with 13.9 ppg. He recorded 24 blocks, 20 steals, and 12 assists. Williams started 12 of the 16 conference contests he appeared in, making a direct impact on the Spartans' season. Additionally, Williams was voted onto the all-conference first-team for his performance this season. 
 
Sieverding is earning his fourth Coach of the Year honor in his 17th season at the helm of the Spartans men’s basketball program. Sieverding, assisted by Scott Sorenson and Nick Hawn, guided UD to a 14-2 mark in the 2024-25 conference season. The University of Dubuque Spartans were crowned regular season champions for the 11th time in program history. 
 
The American Rivers Conference All-Conference First-Team highlighted players from six of the league’s nine schools, with five of the eight earning at least their second all-conference honor. Two of those student-athletes are repeat first-teamers, three make the move from second-team to first-team, and three are first time all-conference performers. 
 
Josh Van Gorp led the league in scoring again this season, averaging 20.8 points per game for the Dutch. Earlier this conference season, Van Gorp set two new conference records: points in a single game (55) and field goals made in a single game (26). Van Gorp led the way for the conference for rebounds per game, averaging 10.3. He was the most consistent from the field shooting 67.3% over the 16 conference games. Van Gorp did not spend much time on the bench for the Dutch as he averaged 35.1 minutes per game, the most of any player in the A-R-C. Van Gorp was named the league’s player of the year during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. This is his third all-conference honor following being named honorable mention following the 2021-22 season. 
 
Coe’s Bennett Sherry is picking up his first career first-team honor after being selected to the second-team last season. Sherry ranked fourth in the league for scoring averaging 18.3 points per game. He was second in the league for rebounds per game with 10.3 to create a spark for the Kohawks in crucial moments. 
 
Tyler Bass and Gavin Sarvis both are earning first-team all-conference honors for the first time in their careers for the Loras Duhawks. Sarvis led the scoring game for the Duhawks averaging 17.4 points per game over 16 conference contests. He ranked sixth in the conference for scoring this season. He additionally grabbed 40 assists and 29 steals. Bass averaged 14.9 points per game in conference action, in the 15 games he appeared in. He recorded 34 steals and 28 assists. He ranked inside the top-ten in the conference for scoring average, sitting in eighth. Averaging 8.0 rebounds per game placed Bass fourth best in the league. Bass has earned second-team honors the past two seasons. 
 
Carter Glenn joins Groeteke with first-team honors this season for the Prairie Wolves, who finished the regular season as conference runner-ups. This is Glenn’s second career first-team all-conference honor. Glenn averaged 12.6 points per game during conference action for Nebraska Wesleyan. He led the league in the assist to turnover category with a 2.2 ratio after recording 56 assists and just 26 turnovers over 16 games. A league second best was Glenn in the steals category, averaging 2.4 per game. Additionally, he ranked fourth in the league for assists per game with 3.5. 
 
Marsun Williams represents the Wartburg College Knights on first-team this season. This is Williams’ first career first-team honor after earning second-team honors following the 2023-24 season. Williams led the Knights averaging 18.9 points per game, which placed him third best in the league. He averaged 6.9 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game.