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Guard - Aston Francis
Wheaton (Ill.) College
2016-2019

All-American selections: 2018 (2nd), 2019 (Player of the Year)

All-Region selections: 2017 (1st), 2018 (Player of the Year), 2019 (Player of the Year)

Conference MVPs: 2018, 2019

NCAA Tournament appearances: 2019 (Final Four)

Other honors: 2018 Jostens Trophy finalist...2019 Jostens Trophy winner...2019 Bevo Francis Award winner (top player outside NCAA Division I)...Division III record holder for single-season scoring (1,096 in 2018-19)...Division III record holder for points in an NCAA Tournament game (62)...Fourth all-time for made 3-pointers per game in a career (4.67).

From the archives

• Francis wins Jostens Trophy (March 2019)
• Francis punches Thunder's Final Four ticket with 62 points (March 2019) | Highlight reel (Wheaton)
• Here's the point: Aston is amazing (March 2019)
• Francis scores 54 in Wheaton win over Platteville (December 2018)

What others say: “A couple things separate Aston from anyone else I have ever coached. He was the hardest working player I have ever been around and he was the most self-confident athlete I have ever encountered. He knew he had outworked you and he knew he was better than you. His ability to score was often breathtaking but in reality most of those shots were ones he had worked on for hours and hours prior to that moment ... including the one he made to send us to the Final Four in 2019.” – Michael Schauer, Wheaton head coach 

Career synopsis: When Aston Francis nailed that 3-pointer, a step-back shot from the corner, his record-tying 12th 3-pointer of the game, to knock out Marietta and send his Wheaton Thunder to the 2019 NCAA Final Four, it was the pinnacle of the greatest individual season in the history of Division III men’s basketball. Francis’ 62 points that night set the tournament record for single-game scoring; he broke the tournament scoring record the next weekend, averaging just under 45 points per game. The performance against Marietta also broke Greg Grant’s eye-popping single-season scoring record, which was generally considered untouchable since he set it for Trenton State (later TCNJ) in 1989.

Most indicative of Francis’ legacy, though, was that this most famous shot was nearly identical to one he missed in an earlier loss that season and which he made 100 times every day thereafter to be ready for his next opportunity. While Francis had just three years to earn his place on the All-Decade Team, earn it he did. His legendary work ethic remains an inspiration and helped turn an exceedingly humble, barely recruited, junior college bench player into a Division III legend.

In just three years in Division III, Francis scored 2,406 points, averaging 28.9 points per game for his career. He made 388 career 3-pointers, which is currently eighth in D-III history. As a senior, he also led Wheaton in rebounding with 7.9 per game and added 3.1 rebounds per game. Francis' 512 points in CCIW play in 2018-19 is the second-highest single-season scoring total in conference history and the highest in the Division III era. His 224 points in Wheaton's five postseason games broke the previous tournament record of 177 points that Williams' Michael Nogelo set in six games in 1998.