Louisville basketball earns NABC Team Academic Excellence Award

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the fourth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics. The University of Louisville is one of 123 programs recognized. 

These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2015-16 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who competed during the 2015-16 season.

The Cardinals collectively attained a 3.38 grade-point average for the 2016 spring semester, with 14 of 15 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA.  Ten men's basketball players achieved a 3.4 or higher GPA during the most recent semester. The men's basketball team has been around an aggregate 3.0 GPA for 16 consecutive semesters and had attained a 3.36 GPA during the 2015 fall semester.

Louisville placed a league-high seven individuals on the 26-member 2016 ACC All-Academic Team, including Deng Adel, Trey Lewis, Mangok Mathiang, Donovan Mitchell, Chinanu Onuaku, Quentin Snider and Raymond Spalding.  Onuaku was also named to the 2016 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 2 Men's Basketball first team, which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.

The academic success continues a recent trend for the UofL men's basketball team. For the 2014-15 school year, the team produced a collective 3.26 grade point average, just below its record 3.40 GPA from the previous season.

Louisville has received NCAA Public Recognition Awards each of the last four years for ranking among the top 10 percent nationally in men's basketball in the Academic Progress Rate, which measures academic eligibility, retention and graduation for student-athletes.