HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac men's basketball team earned a Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the organization announced today.
The award is given to teams which compile a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher during the 2015-16 academic year. Quinnipiac easily surpassed that threshold, earning a 3.15 GPA over the course of the year, including six players who earned spots on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll this summer for having a 3.2 or higher. Freshman
Andrew Robinson had the team's highest GPA last year, including a perfect 4.0 in the spring semester.
Quinnipiac was one of only 119 NCAA insititutions representing all three divisions ro earn the Team Academic Excellence Award this year, including one of only 25 at the Division I level. The Bobcats were the only MAAC team to be honored, and were one of three New Haven-area schools to earn the distinction, along with Yale and Southern Connecticut.
The Bobcats also earned the Team Academic Excellence award from the NABC in 2014, and have consistently performed well in the classroom during Head Coach
Tom Moore's tenure. In his first three seasons at the helm (2007-10), Quinnipiac had the highest turnaround in the NCAA's Academic Progress Report (APR), raising its score by 219 points. Every Bobcat who has stayed at Quinnipiac for four years has earned his degree during that time.
"I am extremely proud to be honored by the NABC for our academic achievement," said Moore. "It speaks to the culture of academic success that our advisor,
Alyssa Budkofsky, and our players have established here. Our 100 percent graduation rate, consistently high APR scores, and honors like these validate the hard work and commitment that our student-athletes have demonstrated in the classroom."