Wayne Blackshear named Capital One Academic All-American honors

Hey, some feel-good, positive news:

University of Louisville men's basketball senior Wayne Blackshear was named a second team Capital One Academic All-America Division I basketball teams by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday afternoon.

The Chicago, Ill., native earned the 2013 NCAA Elite 89 Award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships. Blackshear, who is majoring in communications, boasts a 3.4 cumulative grade-point average. He was a member of the 2014 UofL Athletic Director's Honor Roll while helping the men's basketball team produced a 3.33 combined GPA for the 2014 fall semester, the second-highest ever for the Cardinals and the highest among Louisville's nine men's sports programs.

Through 28 games this season, the forward is averaging a career-best 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He has 33 steals and just 27 turnovers in 839 minutes played. Blackshear scored a career-high 31 points against Cal State Northridge, adding six rebounds and four steals while burying a career-high 6-of-11 three-pointers. He ranks second on the team in free throw percentage, connecting on 74.4 percent from the line. The team captain has scored in double figures in 42 career games and ranks fourth on the team in scoring this season.

Blackshear is one of two players to represent the ACC. North Carolina's Marcus Paige was also named a second team selection.

The Capital One Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division I national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2014-15 D-I Academic All-America teams program.

Capital One 2014-15 Academic All-America ® Men's Basketball Team Division I

FIRST TEAM 
Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington
Chasson Randle, Stanford
Shavon Shields, Nebraska
Matt Townsend, Yale
Thomas van der Mars, Portland

SECOND TEAM 
Alex Barlow, Butler
Canyon Barry, Charleston
Wayne Blackshear, Louisville
Marcus Paige, North Carolina
Levi Randolph, Alabama

THIRD TEAM 
Craig Bradshaw, Belmont
Johnny Dee, San Diego
Mike Gesell, Iowa
Jordan Gregory, Montana
John Kopriva, George Washington
Nigel Williams-Goss, Washington