Wheaton, Ill. –  In a week that has seen the accolades pile up for Tyson Cruickshank, the biggest honor so far was announced this morning by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) as the coaching organization has announced Cruickshank as its NCAA Division III Player of the Year. Cruickshank is the first Wheaton player to earn the Player of the Year award from the NABC.

Earlier this week Cruickshank was recognized as the District 8 Player of the Year by the NABC and as the Region 8 Player of the Year by D3hoops.com. Both organizations placed Cruickshank on their respective Region 8 All-Region First Team units. Additionally, he was named as one of 10 finalists for the Jostens Trophy – the award for the top student Athlete in Division III Basketball each year. He was also named to the Bevo Francis Award Top-25 watchlist for the top player in small college basketball.

The 2022-23 CCIW Fred Young Most Outstanding Player, Cruickshank led Wheaton to a 25-5 overall record this season as the Thunder posted a 14-2 record in conference play, winning the CCIW's Regular Season Championship. A four-time All-CCIW honoree, Cruickshank is only the sixth Wheaton men's basketball player ever to earn All-Conference awards four times.

Cruickshank averaged 19.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game for the Thunder this year. He ranks 13th this season in Division III in assists (155), is 14th in three-pointers per game (3.0 3PG) and 17th in total points (593).

Wheaton's all-time leader in games played with 124, Cruickshank played in a Wheaton-record 11 NCAA Division III Tournament games in his Thunder career. Cruickshank concluded his Thunder tenure with 1,774 career points, 425 assists, and 570 rebounds. He is seventh on Wheaton's all-time scoring and is second on the program's career assists and also second on the made three-pointers list (256).

Cruickshank is the only Division III player that concluded the 2022-23 season ranked in the top-10 among active players in both career points (1,774) and career assists (425). He Is one of only three players in program history to score at least 1,700 points with at least 400 assists in a career.