KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Drake men's basketball junior guard Bennett Stirtz added another accolade to his already illustrious season. Stirtz was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First Team All-District Team (Central District) on Tuesday.

Stirtz was named the Larry Bird MVC Player of the Year in his first season at Drake and is the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player this season who has collected more than 600 points (631), 180 assists (188) and 70 steals (71). The Liberty, Missouri, native is also just the second player in MVC history to achieve those numbers in a season, joining Indiana State's Larry Bird who had 973 points, 187 assists and 85 steals in 1978-79.
 
2024-25 NABC ALL-CENTRAL DISTRICT
 
FIRST TEAM
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
P.J. Haggerty, Memphis
Chucky Hepburn, Louisville
Curtis Jones, Iowa State
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Bennett Stirtz, Drake
Brice Williams, Nebraska
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
 
SECOND TEAM
Steven Ashworth, Creighton
Tamar Bates, Missouri
Lamont Butler, Kentucky
Jason Edwards, Vanderbilt
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
Caleb Grill, Missouri
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
David N'Guessan, Kansas State
Jacob Ognacevic, Lipscomb
Amari Williams, Kentucky
 
Coach of the Year: Dennis Gates, Missouri
 
The 11-seed Bulldogs will play 6-seed Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday, March 20.