Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

Guard - Sean Wallis
Washington U.
2005 - 2010

All-American selections: 2009 (2nd), 2010 (1st)

All-Region selections: 2007 (2nd), 2009 (2nd), 2010 (1st)

Conference MVP: 2010

NCAA Tournament appearances: 2007 (Final Four), 2008 (national champion, injured), 2009 (national champion), 2010 (second round)

Other honors: 2007 All-Tournament Team...2009 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player

From the archives

• Bears repeat, while history does not (March 2009)
• Off the floor, Bears all friends (March 2009)
• Sean Wallis takes us inside the Bears (November 2007)
• More of Sean Wallis' Insider blog posts (2008, 2009)

What others say: "[Sean] is a tremendous selection as he was an exceptional player and leader on some very good Washington University teams. He brought his Illinois State championship experience to a talented group of players. He was the consummate point guard who could turn a great team into a championship team. He knew how to get the most out of his teammates and how to capitalize on their strengths. Whether it was an assist, a score or a steal, he was able to deliver the big play when it was needed." – Mark Edwards, former WashU men's basketball coach

In their own words: "I couldn't be more appreciative of this awesome honor from D3hoops.com. I wouldn't trade the memories with my coaches and teammates at Wash U for anything. The success we had was not because of any one individual – I was just lucky to play with the greatest group of players and for the greatest coaches I could've ever imagined."

Where are they now: Head of Business Development for University of Notre Dame Global Partnerships 

Career synopsis: People who followed Division III basketball and D3hoops.com closely may well remember that Sean Wallis doesn't belong on this team or to this decade at all. But Wallis, after helping lead his Bears to the Final Four as a sophomore in 2007, had his 2008 season end in a snap – that snap being a displaced tibial plateau fracture and a partially torn MCL which sidelined him for the rest of the season. But Wallis' misfortune was our gain, not only the gain of this D3hoops.com All-Decade team, since that pushed Wallis' career into the 2010s, but also the gain of the Division III basketball fandom. Wallis was already eagerly participating as an Insider on the D3hoops.com blog that season, and readers got to follow along week by week as he kept filing reports. Meanwhile, it would seem there was no better way for Wallis to up his game than by sitting on the Bears' bench, where the point guard got to hear and see everything coach Mark Edwards and assistant coach Tim Whittle did for the entire rest of the season as the Bears went on to win the 2008 national championship.

The following winter, Wallis announced he was fully healed by dropping 22 points on 4-for-6 3-point shooting while dishing out seven assists in a season-opening win against North Park. After surviving a first-round game at Elmhurst where Lawrence nearly knocked off the defending champs, Wallis averaged 16.4 points and 8.4 assists the rest of the tournament in helping carry the Bears to their second consecutive championship. Wash U lost just two games all season. The 2008 season had been Troy Ruths' senior season and 2009 was Tyler Nading's. Without those two, the Bears still had a lot of firepower but lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at home to Illinois Wesleyan. Wallis finished with 1,216 career points and 773 career assists and capped off his career by playing in the first-ever NABC Division III All-Star Game.

That's another honor he wouldn't have been around for if he hadn't missed most of that 2008 season.