Pictured Above: Sixth-year Wagner head men's basketball coach, Bashir Mason, the 2017-18 Jim Phelan Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year (Credit: Dave Saffran)
Official Release
Kansas City, MO – The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced today the 2018 NABC All-District coaches for NCAA Division I, selected by their peers.
Wagner head men's basketball coach
Bashir Mason, who completed his sixth season on the Seahawk sidelines in 2017-18, was tabbed District 18 NABC Coach of the Year. For Mason, it marks the first time in his career that he has received this honor by the NABC.
Mason was named the 2017-18 Jim Phelan Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year for the second time in his career, leading Wagner to a 23-10 overall record, which included a 14-4 conference mark, while winning the NEC regular season title for the second time in a three-year span. The Green & White finished the regular season with 21 regular season wins, the most during the Coach Mason era, surpassing the 2015-16 mark of 19.
Mason, who is currently the sixth-youngest head coach in Division I at 34 years old, became the first Wagner head coach to win multiple NEC Coach of the Year honors as well as the tenth in NEC history to accomplish this feat.
In addition, the Green & White earned the league's automatic bid to the postseason National Invitational Tournament (NIT) after falling in the NEC title game to eventual league champions, LIU Brooklyn.
The Seahawks won 16 of 17 home games this season, setting a program record for home victories and consecutive wins when the team rattled off 16 straight prior to the championship game, which tied for the second-longest streak in the NCAA. Mason once again built the NEC's top-ranked scoring defense (68.3) and field goal percentage defense (.407).
The 2017-18 Seahawks produced the highest total point accumulated under Mason (2448) as well as their highest scoring average, netting 74.2 points per game. Among all 351 Division I programs, Wagner ranks among the top-ten programs in the nation (as of March 20) in offensive rebounds per game, as the team averaged 13.52 offensives caroms a contest.
In terms of total rebounds, Wagner corralled an average of 39.09 per game, which is among the top-25 in the country. On the defensive end, the Seahawks rank 35th in field-goal percentage defense, as the squad held teams to just 41.2 percent shooting from the field.
Mason guided three Seahawks to All-NEC honors this season, as senior guard
JoJo Cooper earned First -Team accolades, while sophomore guard
Blake Francis was named to the Second Team and redshirt junior guard
Romone Saunders was selected as one of five players to the Third Team.
The three all-conference selections marked the first time since the 1994-95 that Wagner had three or more players named to the All-Conference team. In that season Tony Rice and Hall of Fame member Milan Rikic were selected to the Second Team while another Hall of Famer, Dan Seigle, earned a spot on the All-Newcomer squad.
Over his six seasons, Mason has posted an overall record of 110-79 record, which translates into a .582 winning percentage, the highest among the ten NEC-programs. In NEC-only games, Mason has notched a 70-36 (.660) record, which is also the highest percentage for this six-year span.
2018 NABC ALL-DISTRICT COACHES FOR NCAA DIVISION I
District 1 – John Becker, Vermont / Kevin Baggett, Rider
District 2 – Tony Bennett, Virginia
District 3 – Mike Jones, Radford
District 4 – Dan Hurley, Rhode Island
District 5 – Chris Mack, Xavier
District 6 – Travis DeCuire, Montana
District 7 – Chris Holtmann, Ohio State
District 8 – Bill Self, Kansas
District 9 – Mark Few, Gonzaga
District 10 – Bill Coen, Northeastern
District 11 – Steve Henson, UTSA
District 12 – Scott Nagy, Wright State
District 13 – Steve Donahue, Penn
District 14 – Nate Oats, Buffalo
District 15 – Jay Joyner, North Carolina A&T
District 16 – Porter Moser, Loyola Chicago
District 17 – Eric Musselman, Nevada
DISTRICT 18 – BASHIR MASON, WAGNER
District 19 – Matt McMahon, Murray State
District 20 – Mike Hopkins, Washington
District 21 – Rick Barnes, Tennessee
District 22 – Wes Miller, UNCG
District 23 – Donte Jackson, Grambling
District 24 – Bob Marlin, Louisiana
District 25 – Kelvin Sampson, Houston
About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, MO, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at
www.nabc.com.
