Williams and Williams, Paulsen and Paulsen, and Waterman. Sounds like a law firm.

It's not a law firm, but Latrell Williams, Scott Waterman, Zack Paulsen and Tyce Paulsen certainly held court during the 2023-24 Pacific West Conference basketball season. Academy of Art's Williams is the Player and Defender of the Year, the Paulsen brothers of Point Loma are the Newcomer and Freshman of the Year and ART U's Waterman is the Coach of the Year.

The awards and All-PacWest teams are selected by the conference's coaches. 

There are a lot of new faces in 2023-24. All of the special award winners are first-time honorees with the exception of Waterman, and of the 18 players selected for the first, second or third teams, only five have been named All-PacWest Conference before. 

Latrell Williams headlines the group as the first player to ever win Player and Defender of the Year in the same season (Azusa Pacific's Selom Mawugbe won both but in different seasons). The senior forward led the conference in defensive rebounds (181) and was second in overall rebounds per game (9.1). He was fourth in the conference in steals (1.9 per game) and also averaged 12.8 points per game on a balanced Urban Knights squad that were Co-PacWest champs. He had a season best of 18 rebounds against Dominican. The 6-foot-5 third year ART U standout was a Second Team All-PacWest pick in 2021-22.

Point Loma's Zack Paulsen stepped up big for the defending champion Sea Lions, leading a virtually new line-up to a share of the PacWest title with ART U. The Seattle Pacific transfer averaged 15.4 points per game while shooting 86 percent from the free throw line and 49 percent from the field. He also converted nearly two treys per game and dished 2.5 assists per contest. His 34 points against Dominican was the third highest total in the PacWest this season, nailing 14-of-21 field goal attempts. Part of Paulsen's value can be found in his minutes played per game, where at 37.0 he led the conference. 

Zack brought his brother Tyce Paulsen with him to San Diego from the Seattle area. The younger Paulsen saw more and more playing time as the season went on. After starting just two of the first 13 Sea Lions games, the 6-foot-4 freshman's name was called out as a starter for 11 contests at the back end of the schedule. He averaged just under ten points a game (9.7), hit 40 three-pointers and shot 81 percent from the free throw line. He hit for a season-high 27 points against Academy of Art, draining all four of his three-point attempts. 

Scott Waterman led his Academy of Art squad to its first PacWest regular season title this year, earning his second PacWest Coach of the Year award. Waterman, in his fifth season in San Francisco, also won the Coach of the Year award in 2021-22, the same season that the Urban Knights won the PacWest tournament. Waterman has guided ART U to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances as they look to make it three in a row in 2023-24. He now has a career record of 77-58 with the Urban Knights. 

Williams and Zack Paulsen are also members of the All-PacWest First Team. They are joined by Academy of Art's Jamal Fuller, Azusa Pacific's Ken West, Biola's Nathan Medina and Westmont's Anthony McIntyre.

It is West's third selection to an All-PacWest team, the most of any player named this year. The PacWest Preseason Player of the Year averaged 16.5 points per game and 6.0 rebounds. He shot .458 percent from the field, which ranked sixth in the conference, as did his points per game. The 6-foot-8 forward led the PacWest in three-pointers made per game (2.9) and in three-point field goal percentage (.419).

Fuller led the PacWest in scoring this year with 18 points per game. He hit for season highs of 33 points versus Stanislaus State and 32 against Saint Martin's. The second-year Urban Knight shot a consistent .527 from the field, third best in the PacWest, in helping ART U to a share of the conference title. The 6-foot-5 forward scored in double figures in 27 of the 28 games that he played. 

Medina was a spark plug for Biola this season, helping lead the Eagles to a conference tournament berth. The sophomore guard was fifth in the conference in scoring (16.6), second in three-point percentage (.381), third in three-pointers made per game (2.1) and second in free throw percentage (.878). His 27 points against Academy of Art was a season high, and he started in every game this season for the Eagles. He was the only sophomore named to the First Team.

Westmont's McIntyre made a big impression in his first season at the Division II level. The senior guard averaged 17.9 points per game for first-year conference member Westmont, second in the PacWest behind ART U's Fuller by just two points (503 to 501). His .536 field goal percentage was tops in the league and his 2.8 assists per contest listed seventh in the PacWest. McIntyre went for 35 points against Fresno Pacific, the second highest total in the conference this season. 

In addition to Williams and West, other repeat All-PacWest selections were Biola's Daniel Esparza and Hawai`i Hilo's Carlos Ramsey, Jr. (Second Team) and Third Team honoree Maximo Milovich of Biola.

 

2023-24 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Player of the Year		Latrell Williams				Academy of Art
Defender of the Year		Latrell Williams				Academy of Art
Newcomer of the Year		Zack Paulsen				Point Loma
Freshman of the Year		Tyce Paulsen				Point Loma
Coach of the Year		Scott Waterman				Academy of Art
2023-24 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
Name	School		Pos	Yr.	Hometown/Previous School
FIRST TEAM
Latrell Williams*	Academy of Art		F	Sr.	Gary, Indiana / Grayson College
Jamal Fuller	Academy of Art		F	Jr.	Toronto, Ontario / Hill College
Zack Paulsen	Point Loma		G	Jr.	Univ. Place, Wash./Seattle Pacific
Ken West**	Azusa Pacific		F	Sr.	Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian
Nathan Medina	Biola		G	So.	Long Beach, Calif./Valley Christian
Anthony McIntyre	Westmont		G	Sr.	Slymar, Calif. / Ventura CC
SECOND TEAM
Coby Barnes	Point Loma		G	Jr.	Fresno, Calif. / Buchanan HS
Melo Sanchez	Hawai`i Pacific		G	So.	San Diego, Calif. / Veritas Prep
Daniel Esparza*	Biola		G	Jr.	Whittier, Calif. / Cal Poly SLO
Carlos Ramsey, Jr.*	Hawai`i Hilo		G	Jr.	Milwaukee, Wis. / Highland CC
Wynton Brown	Point Loma		F	Jr.	Carson, Calif. / Dyersburg State
Kalique Mitchell	Hawai`i Hilo		F	Sr.	Staten Island, NY / Mt. San Antonio
THIRD TEAM
Dominique Winbush	Hawai`i Pacific		G	Jr.	Los Angeles, Calif. / Taft HS
Tim Adetukasi	Concordia		F	Gr.	Romford, England / Ind. Wesleyan
Maximo Milovich*	Biola		F	Jr.	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Maj Dusanic	Hawai`i Pacific		F	Sr.	Jesenice, Slovania/Dream City HS
Rodney Munson	Academy of Art		G	Jr.	New Orleans, LA/Independence CC
Ross Reeves	Chaminade		G	So.	Orem, Utah / Snow College

                                                                                                            *Previous All-PacWest selection