Falcon Rich Melzer (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn. River Falls HS) has been named the 2004 DIII News Player of the Year.

"Rich had a great season and showed that he is one of the top Div. III players in the country," said DIIIN Editor Gary Rubin. "He was the MVP in one of the top leagues in the nation. There were many top candidates for this honor, but Rich is very deserving."

The 2004 All-American teams were published in the DIII News Postseason Issue, which was released on March 31, 2004.

DIII News, published since 1993, is the leading publication covering men's Div. III basketball. It comes out 12 times during the basketball season.

Before the start of the 2003-04 season Melzer was named the publication's Preseason Player of the Year.

Earlier this year Melzer was named the NABC Player of the Year, to the NABC first All-America team for the second time, to the NABC West All-Region team, the NABC West Region Player of the Year, to the d3hoops.com All-American first team and to the d3hoops.com West All-Region team. He was named to the second d3hoops.com All-American team in 2003.

Melzer is the only NCAA Div. III player invited to the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Portsmouth, Va. He will play with and against some of the top players in the nation during the tourney that runs April 7-10.

Melzer and the Falcons won the WIAC Championship with a 12-4 league record and they finished 20-7 overall. The championship is the University's first since 1950.

Melzer was named to the All-WIAC for the third straight year in 2004 and he earned honorable mention honors in 2001. This year he led the WIAC in scoring for the second straight season averaging 26.9 points. He is third in scoring in the NCAA Div. III in the Feb. 22 report. He finished second in rebounding averaging 8.5. Melzer finished second in field goal shooting (280-502 .558), 13th in free throw shooting (162-221 .733), 13th in steals (32), 12th in assist to turnover ratio (.96) and fourth in blocked shots (44). He scored a season high 37 points and grabbed a season high 14 rebounds at Puget Sound on Nov. 22. He scored in double digits in every game but one and had eight double-doubles in 2004. He led the Falcons in scoring in every game but two and led the team in rebounding in every game but four.

Melzer is currently second in scoring in Falcon history with 2,363 points. He has 821 career rebounds and ranks third all-time in that category. His 22.9 career scoring average is third in the record book. He is first in career field goals (935) and second in career field goals attempted (1,736). Melzer is eighth in career field goal percentage (.538). He holds the career record for blocked shots with 186. He scored in double figures in 98 games, including the last 76 of 77 games he played.

In the WIAC, Melzer holds the league’s all-time record in field goals made, while ranking second on the conference’s all-time scoring list. Melzer becomes the sixth player in WIAC history to earn back-to-back player of the year awards. He joins UW-Oshkosh’s Tim Dworak (2002-03), UW-Stevens Point’s Terry Porter (1984-85), UW-Eau Claire’s Gib Hinz (1979-80), UW-Oshkosh’s Ralph Sims (1977-78) and UW-Eau Claire’s Mike Ratliff (1970-72).

Earlier this year Melzer was named the WIAC Most Valuable Player the second straight season. He was named the league's Co-MVP with UW-Oshkosh's Tim Dworak in 2003. Melzer is just the second Falcon to win the WIAC MVP award. Jeff Payton was named WIAC MVP in 1983.

Go to the NABC site.

Go to the d3hoops.com page.

Go to the Falcon statistics page.

Go to the WIAC page.

Rich
Melzer