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The United States Basketball Writers Association has named Eric Mika as the District 8 player of the Year. The district is comprised of teams from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, and Nevada. The rest of the all-district team can be viewed below:
BYU's Eric Mika was today named to the @USBWA All-District VIII Team, honored as District VIII Player of the Year: pic.twitter.com/Ul0x2PYUJn
— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) March 7, 2017
After spending two years on an LDS mission, Mika had a huge jump between his freshman and sophomore campaigns. The stats below compare Mika’s freshman and sophomore seasons:
Eric Mika Freshman vs Sophomore
| Category | Freshman | Sophomore |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Freshman | Sophomore |
| Points | 11.8 | 20.1 |
| Rebounds | 6.4 | 9.2 |
| Blocks | 0.73 | 1.9 |
| FT % | 62% | 76% |
Mika will still have a postseason tournament (likely the NIT) to further improve his stats. His sophomore season has caught the eyes of NBA scouts, as many have showed up to BYU games throughout the season. Eric Mika has yet to say what his future plans are, but most believe that he will return to Provo for his junior season. He may opt to go through NBA team workouts and participate in various prospect invitationals in order to gauge his draft stock.
If Eric Mika does indeed return to BYU, the Cougars will return all 5 starters for the 2017-2018 season.