A year ago, the Robert Morris Colonials swept most of the postseason awards after a breakout campaign that ultimately saw them win both the regular season and postseason titles. After 5-6 games from each team to start league play, it looks wide open as far as who the teams to beat are.
That means it’s currently wide open for many players and coaches to earn postseason honors as well. With this being the midway point of the 2025-26 season, here are the midseason awards and all-teams for the Horizon League.
Midseason Player of the Year: Isaac Garrett, Oakland Golden Grizzlies
The former JUCO star was a coveted prospect last offseason and is showing why, averaging over 18 points and eight rebounds per game at the start of league play. That includes a combined 57 points and 20 rebounds in the team’s two recent wins over contenders Youngstown State and Robert Morris. As the MVP of the current best team in the conference, Garrett has played himself into being a favorite for the real postseason award.
Midseason Defensive POY: TJ Burch, Wright State Raiders
The defensive turnaround for the Raiders has led them to an overachieving start to league play, with the Ball State transfer playing a big part. Burch currently leads the Horizon League with three steals a game (sixth nationally), including six in the team’s big win over Oakland.
Midseason Sixth Man of the Year: Donovan Oday, Northern Kentucky Norse
The Cal State Fullerton transfer is posting career-high numbers offensively, averaging 16.2 ppg. He still plays starter minutes and is on the court in crunch time, leading the Norse with 16 points in the team’s win over Robert Morris, along with 22 to beat Youngstown most recently.
Midseason Newcomer of the Year: Brody Robinson, Oakland Golden Grizzlies
Technically, Garrett would qualify for this award since he’s also a newcomer. But for this exercise, I went with another star Oakland player, the UT-Arlington transfer guard, who gives them a needed lead ball-handler to run the offense. Robinson had 27 points against both Wright State and Purdue Fort Wayne, along with leading the entire Horizon League in passing to this point.
Midseason Freshman of the Year: Michael Cooper, Wright State Raiders
There have been a number of standout freshmen in the conference, but the star of the group is Cooper, who leads Wright State in scoring overall. He went for 23 points in the win over Green Bay, all while shooting 48% from the field and 37% from three-point range. He’s missed the last couple of games with an injury, but once he’s back, look for Cooper to continue his all-league play.
Midseason Coach of the Year: Doug Gottlieb, Green Bay Phoenix
In his first year with the Phoenix, Gottlieb finished 2-18 in league play. Already this year, he and Green Bay are 3-2 in the Horizon, all while a blown double-digit late lead against Robert Morris would have made them 4-1. That includes wins over rival Milwaukee and an 18-point win over Fort Wayne. Barring a major collapse in the next month, the COY award may be all but locked up.
All-Horizon First-Team
Isaac Garrett, Oakland
2025-26 stats: 15.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.6 apg
Corey Hadnot II, Purdue Fort Wayne
2025-26 stats: 20.4 ppg and 3.0 apg
DeSean Goode, Robert Morris
2025-26 stats: 15 ppg and 9.1 rpg
Donovan Oday, Northern Kentucky
2025-26 stats: 16.2 ppg and 4.0 rpg
Brody Robinson, Oakland
2025-26 stats: 15.9 ppg and 5.9 apg
All-Horizon Second-Team
Cris Carroll, Youngstown State
2025-26 season stats: 17.4 ppg and 4.8 rpg
Dan Gherezgher, Northern Kentucky
2025-26 season stats: 17.1 ppg and 2.2 apg
Michael Cooper, Wright State
2025-26 stats: 15.4 ppg and 2.8 apg
Tuburu Naivalurua, Oakland
2025-26 stats: 14.1 ppg and 5.5 rpg
LJ Wells, Northern Kentucky
2025-26 stats: 13.3 ppg and 8.2 rpg
All-Horizon 3rd Team
Marcus Hall, Green Bay
2025-26 stats: 13.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg
Danilo Jovanovich, Milwaukee
2025-26 stats: 13.1 ppg and 6.4 rpg
Kyler D’Augustino, IU Indy
2025-26 stats: 17.9 ppg and 3.0 apg
TJ Nadeau, Detroit Mercy
2025-26 stats: 13.4 ppg and 3.5 rpg
Kael Robinson, Northern Kentucky
2025-26 stats: 15.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg
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