Schlingman Named NCAA Postgrad Scholarship Recipient

Former College of Wooster men’s basketball player Matt Schlingman (Ashland, Ohio / Ashland) was awarded a postgraduate scholarship from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), announced the national office recently (April 26). The $7,500 award is given out annually to 170 student-athletes, 28 of which go to male winter sport participants.

Schlingman is the eighth Wooster student-athlete, and second men’s basketball player (Scott Meech, 1995), to win the highly prestigious honor over the last 12 years. Also noteworthy, Schlingman was one of three men’s basketball players nationwide to earn the award this year, along with Michigan State University’s Chris Hill and the State University of New York at Potsdam’s Christian Turner.

“We are all extremely excited about this,” remarked veteran Fighting Scot head coach Steve Moore. “There’s no question that Matt is extremely deserving of this award. He has worked exceptionally hard in the classroom and on the court. To be one of only three men’s basketball players in all divisions, I think that points out what an honor (this) is.”

Schlingman received several other accolades this past year, the most noteworthy being named a first-team Academic All-American®, one of five from Divs. II and III and NAIA so honored. In fact, he’s listed in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine for that recognition. Schlingman also was tabbed with all-conference honors for the second time, this year being a second-team selection, and was voted the Fighting Scots’ co-Most Valuable Player.

While finishing as Wooster’s second-leading scorer (11.9 ppg) during 2004-05, Schlingman, a 6-7, 220-pound center, shattered the conference- and school-record for field-goal percentage, making nearly 70 percent of his shots from the floor (.696; 128-184). He averaged 3.9 rebounds and totaled 43 assists, 27 blocks, and 14 steals as well. As a team tri-captain, Schlingman helped lead Wooster to a 27-3 record, the North Coast Athletic Conference championship (15-1), and a No. 8 final national ranking (D3hoops.com).

For his career, Schlingman steadily increased his scoring average from 4.8 to 8.8 to 10.1 to 11.9 points. He became the 27th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, finishing in a tie for 21st on the Scots’ all-time scoring list with 1,046 points. Schlingman, who also totaled 431 rebounds, 118 assists, 85 blocked shots, and 45 steals, compiled the third-highest field-goal percentage (.612) in team history.

Schlingman, who finished one A- away from a perfect 4.00 grade-point average (3.99) while majoring in mathematics with a minor in business economics, has accepted a job as a pricing analyst at Progressive starting Aug. 1, but plans to take advantage of the NCAA postgraduate scholarship and attend grad school by the 2007-08 academic year. Matt is the son of Lee and Selora Schlingman of Ashland, Ohio.