Augustana College basketball player Aben Cooper is a relatively quiet, unassuming individual. So when he was chosen as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Player of the Week in January, he reacted with genuine surprise.
“It really was unexpected,” the West Aurora High School graduate said. “I knew I was playing well, but I was playing well last year and I didn’t get any recognition. I didn’t expect things to be different this year.”
It looks like 1993 is Cooper’s year, at least in terms of recognition. In addition to his Player of the Week honors, the 6-foot-5-inch senior forward was also selected to the first team of the CCIW all-conference squad.
Also, Cooper was named last month to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District basketball team. Cooper, a biology and pre-physical therapy major, was nominated to the team after he finished up the first semester of this year with a 3.43 grade-point average.
“Aben is what Division III basketball is all about,” says Vikings coach Steve Yount. “Education is the key for kids like Aben. He just plays basketball because he loves to play.”
Cooper, who finished up the regular season with an average of 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, has also been one of the key reasons Augustana won the CCIW title with a 12-2 record, getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
It was Augustana’s first conference title since 1982 in a league traditionally dominated by North Park and Illinois Wesleyan.
The Vikings improved to 20-6 with a 79-66 victory Thursday night over visiting DePauw in the first round of the Midwest Regional. They visit Beloit (21-4) on Saturday.
Cooper scored 19 points against DePauw. It was the 23rd game in which he has scored in double figures. In nine games this year, he has also recorded double figures in rebounding.
“Aben is as good a Division III post player as anyone in the country,” Yount said. “He’s so strong and so quick. He’s hard for anyone to match up with.”
Cooper, however, is not alone on this team. Fellow seniors Kirk Anderson and Josh Thompson are the other key contributors. Anderson, a 6-5 guard from Phoenix, was chosen as the CCIW Most Outstanding Player after averaging 23.7 points per game. Thompson, a 6-7 center from Greenville, Pa., has averaged 13.5 points and 6.4 rebounds this year.
These three players are the primary offensive threats in Yount’s motion offense. Cooper and Thompson are the inside threats in this system, while Anderson and guards Brent Shreeves and Tom Wise are responsible for the perimeter shooting.
“We have some good scorers from the perimeter, so we try to get them the ball first,” Cooper said. “Usually, I’m the second or third scoring option.”
Yount said he takes a “hands-off” approach in coaching his talented team. “We play a sort of controlled playground game,” he said. “We might set screens and picks sometimes, but we’re not overly structured.”
Cooper praised Yount for not tampering with his offensive game.
“I have to give coach Yount credit for our success this year, because he tried to structure the offense around our strong points,” Cooper said.
His strong points, however, were not immediately evident during his first two years at Augustana. Yount said Cooper was not considered a post player until his junior year, after he had worked out in the summer in the weight room.
“As a freshman and a sophomore, Aben was out of control,” Yount said. “He was a swing-type player who would over-penetrate and shoot when we didn’t need him to shoot. But when he gets the ball in the paint now, we encourage him to go for it.”
After the season, Cooper will continue to apply for graduate school. He has already been accepted to medical schools at Northwestern and Washington University in St. Louis. And, later in the month, Cooper will interview at Duke.
“He’s a truly ambitious person and a hard worker,” Yount said. “Aben can accomplish anything he sets out to accomplish.”
