KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference had 16 men's basketball players named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court - the third-most of any Division III conference in the nation. Complete NABC Honors Court Team
To be eligible for the Honors Court, a student-athlete must be a junior or senior with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. Players are selected from all NCAA divisions and the NAIA. According to the NABC website: "The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court, and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom."
Trinity University led the way with eight selections to the prestigious squad, which was tied with St. John's University (MN) for the lead in honorees in the NCAA Division III. Westminster College (Utah), of the NAIA, led the list with 10 recipients.
Austin College and Colorado College each had three players named to the team and Southwestern University had two selections.
The Trinity players named to the NABC Honors Court were: John Boxberger, Jacob Cukjati, Matt Holmes, Robert Kitzinger, John LaVanway, Zach Lambert, Joe Shotland and Jonathan Wilt.
Austin College players named to the team include: Vineeth Kumar, Alen Michael and Jackson Ross, while the Colorado College selections include: Chris Mayo-Smith, Ian Rewoldt and Daniel Webb.
Southwestern's two honorees were Mike Cantu and Chase Kocher.
With only six member institutions during the 2012-13 academic year, the SCAC had the third-most total selections (16) of any Division III conference in the nation.
The only Division III conferences who landed more honorees on the NABC Honors Court were the University Athletic Associastion (UAA) with 22 selections and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) with 20 selections.
Colorado College and Trinity University were also honored as one of 97 programs (NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA Division I and II) to earn the inaugural NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, which was created by the NABC Committee on Acadmeics. NABC Team Academic Excellence Release
In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, an institution must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes competing during the 2012-13 season.