KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the third time in program history the Gallaudet University men's basketball team earned the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award as announced by the organization on Thursday. The 2022-23 NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards are the 11th annual released by the organization.
These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2022-23 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who were on a roster during the 2022-23 season. This is the third NABC Team Academic Award under Head Coach Kevin Kovacs.
The NABC recognized 313 different programs. Gallaudet is the only United East Conference member represented on the list as the Bison tallied a 3.11 team GPA. Gallaudet, George Washington University and The Catholic University of America are they only programs from the District of Columbia on the list.
In addition to the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, six Bison student-athletes earned NABC Honors Court recognition. Gallaudet's honorees include sophomore Alex Antsiferov (North Charleston, S.C.), sophomore Blessed Mbogo (Silver Spring, Md.), sophomore Jake Schwall (Fishers, Ind.), junior Lance Wood (Fishers, Ind.), senior Preston Kelly (Indianapolis, Ind.) and junior Rory Lewis (Frederick, Md.). The United East had nine total honorees on the NABC Honors Court; Gallaudet with six followed by two from Penn College and one from St. Mary's College of Maryland.
The NABC Honors Court highlights the talents and gifts that these student-athletes possess on the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the NABC Honors Court, you must be a junior or senior academically, have a 3.2 GPA or higher, be on a varsity for at least one year and the head coach must be a member of the NABC.
NABC Team Academic Award - Gallaudet University
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About 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.
