BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Four Carleton College Knights were recognized as the MIAC men's basketball coaches handed out their end-of-season awards for the 2023-24 campaign. Junior point guard Luke Harris was voted the conference's Offensive Player of the Year. He was joined on the All-MIAC squad by senior forward Matt Banovetz. Junior forward Spencer Goetz received All-MIAC honorable mention, while first-year forward Sam Koelling was selected as the Rookie of the Year.
 
Harris is 1 of 9 repeat selections to the All-MIAC squad, having also garnered a spot on the 16-player list for 2022-23. He is the first Carleton men's basketball player to win a player of the year award since Gerrick Monroe in 1993.
 
This season, Harris averaged 20.3 points overall, tops among players from the MIAC, and scored 18.9 points in conference games.  He led the league with 378 total points in MIAC play, becoming the first Carleton player to top that category since Zach Johnson in 2008-09. Harris made 128 free throws during conference games, the highest total in the MIAC since 2002 and the fourth-highest figure in recorded conference history. The junior guard currently ranks 40th in NCAA Division III in overall scoring average and is fourth in with 173 made free throws overall this season.
 
Harris also ranked fifth in the conference at 3.4 assists overall and 13th with 5.7 rebounds per game. His 2.04 steals were tops in the MIAC, making him and Augsburg's Booker Coplin (2018-19 season) the only players since 2000 to pace the conference in both points and steals in the same season.
 
Harris was selected to the MIAC's nine-player All-Playoff Team for the second consecutive year. He scored a career-high 33 points with four steals in the semifinals against Gustavus Adolphus.
 
The Californian put together many superlative regular-season performances. He totaled 14 games with 20 or more points, including two 30-plus point outputs against regular-season champion Saint John's in addition to his career night in the 2024 playoff semifinals. He tied for the most steals in a game by a MIAC player with six against NCAA Tournament qualifier Bethany Lutheran, as well as most single-game assists with nine against Pomona-Pitzer.
 
Banovetz moved up to the All-MIAC team after receiving All-MIAC honorable mention a year ago. The senior served as a versatile big man for the Knights, finishing top-10 or better in the conference in six major statistical categories. He finished among MIAC scoring and rebounding leaders at 16.6 points (eighth) and 7.5 rebounds (fifth) per game.
 
The 6-foot-7 Banovetz was also one of the top 3-point shooters in the conference, ranking fifth in the MIAC after making 2.46 triples per game while shooting at a .395 clip from long range (seventh in MIAC). Both of those marks were best among qualified forwards and centers in the MIAC. He totaled eight 20-plus point performances and posted six double-doubles during the campaign. Banovetz also excelled on the defensive end, notching 0.7 blocks a game to tie for sixth in the MIAC and picking up 1.4 steals to tie for 10th.
 
Previoulsy on the court primarily due to his defensive efforts, Goetz became arguably the Knights' most important all-around player in 2023-24. On the offensive side, He scored 8.0 points per game, nearly quadrupling his scoring efforts from last year. Goetz finished in double figures 10 times on the season, including 8 of the Knights' last 10 games.
 
He was uber-efficient from the floor, making 57.6 percent of his shots to rank fourth in the MIAC. Goetz was also one of the best distributors in the conference, dishing out 3.7 assists a night, third best in the MIAC. His 3.03 assists-per-turnover ratio was easily tops among MIAC players, with second place sitting at 2.07.
 
The junior also continued his signature defensive excellence, reeling in 44 steals (1.7 per game), second in the MIAC behind Harris, and collecting 6.0 rebounds per game to rank eighth among conference players. He accomplished that while putting in some lockdown performances against opponents' top scorers, such as holding top-20 point-getters and All-MIAC performers Bradley Cimperman of Hamline (14.9 ppg overall vs. 5.0 ppg against Carleton on 5-of-20 shooting) and Kooper Vaughn of Saint John's (13.8 ppg overall vs. 8.0 ppg against Carleton).
 
Koelling was easily the top rookie in the MIAC as he averaged 10.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game, while shooting a blistering 58.6 percent (third in MIAC) from the field. No other true freshman in the MIAC averaged even 9.0 points or 3.5 rebounds or 0.5 blocks per game or shot above 50 percent while qualifying, let along soaring past all of those benchmarks as Koelling did. He also played the most minutes for a MIAC first-year at 29.2 per night and started 25 fo 26 games, coming off the bench for the Senior Day contest when the Knights' five four-year seniors were granted starting honors). Koelling tallied double-figure scoring in 13 contest.
 
Koelling announced himself as a player to watch in the conference for years to come with standout performances like a 13-point, 7-rebound, 4-block night against Augsburg; a 24-point outburst against Macalester; and 15 points on nearly perfect 7-of-8 shooting in the MIAC Semifinals against Gustavus Adolphus.