2026 MBWA AWARDS
MEN'S DIV. III
Yeshiva's Samet Scores Player of the Year; Montclair's Potts Picked for Top Coach

NEW YORK (April 14, 2026) – Zevi Samet of Yeshiva University has been selected the All-Met Division III men’s college basketball Player of the Year for 2025-26 as announced Tuesday by the Met Basketball Writers Association.
 

Justin Potts of Montclair State University was named Coach of the Year for the second time in the past four seasons, having been selected previously in 2023..

The All-Met First Team: Shea Fitzgerald, Vassar; Jacob Morales, Montclair State; Amar Ndiaye, Lehman; Michael Notias, Farmingdale; Bakhi Rogers-Robinson, New Jersey City and Samet.

The All-Met Second Team: Harmehar Chhabra, Stevens; Sean Conroy, Farmingdale; Carnegie Johnson, NYU; Tayejon Lynch, Western Connecticut State; David Musial, Drew; Tommy Scholl, Stevens.

The All-Met Third Team: Jake Devaney, Maritime; Ricardo Dixon, Lehman; Kabrien Goss, Montclair State; Luke Kolaja, NYU; Keyshawn Miller, John Jay; Justin Morety, CCNY; Yoav Oselka, Yeshiva.

All-Met Honorable Mention: Joe Charles, Brooklyn; ; Malachi Jeffers-Viera, Kean; Parker Neuenhaus, Vassar; Kenny Rodriguez, St. Joseph’s-Long Island; Darren Rubin, NYU; Jamir Stewart, John Jay; Zion Williams, Maritime; Eli Yusavage, Drew

Being named All-Met is unique in that there are 36 colleges and universities and more than 500 players under the MBWA Division III men’s umbrella.
 
The 2025-26 All-Met teams will be honored at the 93rd MBWA Haggerty Awards dinner on Thursday, April 23, at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, NY. The Haggerty dinner is the longest running, media-managed college basketball awards program in the United States.
 
A 6-2 senior guard from Monsey, NY, the superlatives and the accolades for Samet this past season seem never-ending. Among the honors: Skyline Conference player of the year; NABC First Team All-American; D3hoops.com Second Team All-American and Region 3 player of the year.

Statistically, Samet --- who started all 31 games for the Maccabees (22-9, 16-0) --- led the Skyline in 2025-26 with 23.8 points per game. He shot 48.7% from the field, including 40.8% from 3-point range, and 86.6% at the free throw line. His 737 points this past season rank No. 2 all-time at Yeshiva for a single season and were fourth-best in the nation for Division III.

In four seasons at YU, Samet scored 2,564 points, which is No. 1 in school history, No. 13 all-time for a career in NCAA Division III annals and fourth-best in scoring among all men’s players in the Met area across all three NCAA divisions. 

Samet set a Yeshiva single game scoring mark with 52 points, posted 36 points as the Maccabees captured their second consecutive Skyline title by defeating Farmingdale and led YU to the NCAA postseason Sweet Sixteen for the second time in program history.          

Named to the MBWA All-Met First Team in 2024 and 2025, and All-Met Second Team in 2023, Samet represents the fourth time a Yeshiva athlete has been named Player of the Year. Previously, YU’s Ryan Turell was honored three straight times (2020-21-22).   

Having just concluded his seventh season at Montclair State, Potts --- who individually was named the NABC District IV coach of the year and collectively the Red Hawks were tabbed as the New Jersey Athletic Conference coaching staff of the year --- guided MSU (25-3, 17-1 NJAC) to an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. Along the way, the team set a program milestone with 24 consecutive victories, a feat which tied the conference record.

Heading into the final game of the regular season, Montclair was 17-0 in NJAC play and 24-0 overall. With Potts’ guidance, the Red Hawks were first in the nation in total assists (538) and assists per game (21.5), second in 3-point shooting percentage (40.2%) and second in made 3-pointers (325).

A Moravian graduate with a Bachelor’s degree (2000) and a Master’s from East Stroudsburg (2007), Potts resides in Bethlehem, PA. Prior to joining Montclair, he was the head coach at Moravian. His career coaching record stands at 188-92, a lofty .671 W-L percentage.