2019-20 UD Men's Basketball Awarded Team Academic Excellence Award; 5 Named to NABC Honors Court
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the eighth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics. These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2019-20 season. 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 2019-20 season.
The University of Dallas men's basketball team qualified and was led by five individuals that were named to the NABC 2019-20 Honors Court. In order to be named to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. They must academically be a junior or senior and a varsity player, have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2019-20 academic year, students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution, and be a member of a NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Division I or II institution with a NABC member coach.
Headlining the quintet for the Crusaders were: Joshua Nunn (St. Louis, Mo.), Michael Wambsganss (Denver, Colo.), John Russell (Bossier City, La.), Isaiah Hayes (Arlington, Texas), and Jack Gallant (Los Angeles, Calif.).
The total on this year's individual recipients matched the highest total in UD men's basketball program when it had honorees on the NABC Honors Court in 2016-17. Dallas also placed a pair of individuals in 2017-18. The program earned its first team recognition for the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award.
Nunn led the individual cumulative GPA, as he was the lone member to be on the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National All-Academic Team. The junior guard had to earn a 3.5 cumulative GPA to be named and claimed the feat for consecutive years eligible.
Dallas did well in the classroom as a collective unit this year, placing 18 players on the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Winter Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll. This was the highest number of recipients for the program since joining the league and meant that all had at least a 3.25 GPA mark to qualify.
Click here to view NABC 2019-20 Team Academic Excellence Awards