As a college athlete, winning conference freshman of the year honors in your sport is a signal of high expectations for your future.
But even by that standard, Charger sophomore men's basketball player Patrick Cartier's massive improvement in 2020-21 exceeded all expectations.
The 2019-20 G-MAC Freshman of the Year in men's basketball, Cartier's encore as a sophomore included a stratospheric, honor-laden rise to the top of his sport. Among those awards: the G-MAC Male Athlete of the Year for 2020-21, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon.
The Athlete of the Year award is one of the most prestigious honors the G-MAC awards to its student-athletes, and is given to just one male and one female from among all 12 of the conference's member institutions to recognize the most accomplished athlete in the conference among their gender during the calendar year.
Cartier (Brookfield, WI/East) is the first male Charger in Hillsdale's four-year association with the G-MAC to win Athlete of the Year honors, and the third regardless of gender, joining 2019-20 honoree Allyssa Van Wienen and 2018-19 honoree Paige VanderWall. He's also the first men's basketball player to earn the honor in the nine-year history of the award.
The sophomore earned the honor with a stellar season, leading the Chargers to their second-straight Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular season title, the top seed in the Atlantic Region of the NCAA Division II Tournament, and the Atlantic Regional Final after earning the team's first NCAA tournament victory in 20 years in a 67-48 semifinal win over Mercyhurst.
Individually, Cartier became the first consensus All-American at the Division II level in Hillsdale history, earning honors from both the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, and also was named the 2020-21 G-MAC Player of the Year for men's basketball. He led the G-MAC in scoring with 20.5 points per game and also in field goal percentage with 65.1%, while finishing eighth in free-throw shooting percentage (77.7%) and 12th in rebounds per game (6.2).
The big man from Brookfield, Wisconsin scored in double-figures in all 24 games he played in for the Chargers, with 14 20-plus point games and five double-doubles. He saved his biggest games for crucial moments, scoring 30 points in an 83-79 double-overtime win over Cedarville, a career-high 32 points to stave off an upset on the road at Tiffin in an 85-83 win, and 29 points on 10 of 12 shooting from the floor in the team's historic NCAA tourney win over Mercyhurst that propelled the Chargers to the Sweet 16.
"Obviously, Pat had a great first year (winning G-MAC Freshman of the Year honors)," Hillsdale College head coach John Tharp said. "This year, he really added to his offensive game, and that's where he made the biggest leap.
"His shooting range really improved, and he added the threat of stepping back and shooting a 3-pointer to his arsenal. In the post, his footwork continues to get better, and the more moves you have at your disposal, the tougher you are to guard. I think mentally, he took another step as well, in terms of toughness. Just having that year of experience, you know what to expect as a player, and he was much more consistent and in control all year long."
Cartier's efficiency from the floor was unmatched in the nation in Division II, and unprecedented in the history of the Hillsdale College basketball program. His 65.1% field goal percentage is seventh-best in Division II, and that's with nearly twice as many shot attempts on the season as anyone ahead of him on the list.
The sophomore's career field goal percentage of 64.7% is also the best in program history by over 3 percentage points, surpassing Charger legend Tim Kissman's mark of 61.2% set from 1990 to 1994. At 943 points for his career, Cartier should become the 39th Charger to surpass the 1,000-point mark early next season, and, if he keeps his production up and stays healthy over the next two years, has a very real chance to threaten Hillsdale's all-time career points mark of 2,174 held by Charger Hall of Famer Eric Allaire ('89).
Cartier's accomplishments were not limited to the basketball court in the 2020-21 school year. While he was helping lead the Chargers to heights they hadn't reached in decades, he was also standing out in the classroom.
A psychology major at Hillsdale, Cartier was one of just five players in the Midwest Region to be named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team in recognition of his academic achievements as well as his athletic accomplishments this past year. The sophomore has posted a 3.39 GPA at Hillsdale and has been an important part of a team that earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2019-20 season and should do so again for the 2020-21 season when that award is announced later this summer.
"We're super proud of Pat, not just for what he's accomplished as a player but who he is as a person," Tharp said. "His daily work ethic and his drive to get better is special. You look at what he does in the classroom, and he's a real student-athlete, someone who puts time and effort into both and who really wants to excel at both.
"When you're talking about the type of person we want to have on our team, Pat really is the total package."
Cartier is in a unique position for a G-MAC Male Athlete of the Year honoree. Of the eight previous male winners, three were seniors who had concluded their final year of collegiate eligibility, and five were juniors with just one more potential season. Cartier, meanwhile, has as many as three more years depending on what he chooses, thanks to his sophomore status and the Covid-19 waiver granted to winter sports athletes in 2020-21.
That means that as good as he's been so far, Cartier still have plenty of time to continue to improve and add to his achievements, starting this winter with the 2021-22 season.