KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Butler and reigning BIG EAST Champion Seton Hall have been recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) with a
Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2015-16 season. These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a men’s basketball team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2015-16 season.
Butler are Seton Hall among 26 NCAA Division I programs to receive the honor (there are 351 NCAA Division I men's basketball programs). They are two of eight teams to make the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament field.
In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA Division I and II, must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who competed during the 2015-16 season.
On Tuesday, Butler rising seniors
Steven Bennett and
Trey Pettus and Creighton juniors
Tyler Clement,
Toby Hegner and senior
Cole Huff were recognized as members of the 2015-16 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)
Honors Court for achieving at least a 3.2 GPA for the academic year as a junior or senior. Bennet is a chemistry major, while Pettus is majoring in actuarial science. Clement is a financial analysis and marketing major, Hegner is majoring in marketing and Huff is a journalism major. More than 650 student-athletes from 227 colleges and universities earned NABC Honors Court distinction.
The 26 NCAA Division I men's basketball programs to receive the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2015-16 season:
Butler University
American University
Belmont University
Bethune-Cookman University
Bradley University
University of Denver
Duke University
Eastern Washington University
Harvard University
The College of the Holy Cross
University of Louisville
University of Nebraska Omaha
University of New Mexico
North Dakota State University
Northwestern University
Northwestern State University
University of Oklahoma
Quinnipiac University
Rice University
Seton Hall University
University of South Carolina
University of Toledo
Utah Valley University
Vanderbilt University
UW-Milwaukee
Yale University
About the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. For additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, go to
www.nabc.org.