Men's Basketball Honored for Academics

Seattle University men's basketball was among teams honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) as the association announced the sixth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards.

The award, created by the NABC Committee on Academics, recognizes outstanding academic achievement by teams with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2017-18 season.

The Redhawks achieved a team cumulative GPA of 3.012 for the 2017-18 academic year. Five players concluded the year with a 3.2 cumulative GPA or higher while four Redhawks – Mattia Da Campo, Morgan Means, Matej Kavas and Jake Spurgeon – were also named to the 2017-18 Winter All-Western Athletic Conference Academic Team.

Seattle U was one of just two teams in the WAC, and one of 44 total Division I programs, to be honored.

In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men’s student-athletes who competed during the 2017-18 season.

About the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)

Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today’s student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. For additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, go to www.nabc.org.