MIAC Release | SJU's MIAC Elite 22 Award Recipients

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's University senior wing Ryan Thissen (Rosemount, Minn./Eastview) earned his third MIAC Elite 22 Award for men's basketball on Thursday, March 13.

Modeled after the NCAA Elite 90 Award, the MIAC Elite 22 Award for men's basketball is presented to the individual with the highest GPA among the student-athletes who participated in the MIAC Playoffs. The honoree must be a junior or senior and in at least his second season of competition with his current team. The total number of credits completed served as the tie-breaker.

SJU has now earned three MIAC Elite 22 Awards this academic year as Thissen joins two others – junior golfer Tim Fultz (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) and senior linebacker D.J. Myles (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park).

A biochemistry major (pre-medicine emphasis) with a 4.0 GPA, Thissen is a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American who is expected to earn his third CSC Academic All-District honor later this month and fourth Academic All-MIAC distinction this summer. 

Thissen was named the 2024-25 MIAC Offensive Player of the Year and is a three-time All-MIAC (2023-25) selection. He led SJU in minutes (29.0 mpg.) and scoring (14.7 ppg.) as eight Johnnies averaged 8.5 points or more per game this season. Thissen was also second in rebounding (5.3 rpg.), assists (75) and steals (19). He ended his career second in program history with 1,680 career points and is SJU's all-time leader in games played (114) – all starts – and ninth in assists (287).

The Johnnies (25-4, 15-1 MIAC) won their 12th MIAC regular-season championship (fourth in the last six seasons) and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 74-59 win over Carleton March 1 for the program's fourth MIAC Playoff championship in the last six tournaments (ninth overall). The national postseason appearance was SJU's 22nd (13th at the Division III level) and fifth in the last seven seasons.

The 20-win season was the Johnnies' 16th overall and sixth in the past nine seasons. Three of SJU's four losses were decided by four points or less.