KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the fifth 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. The 2024-25 NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards are the 13th 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 2024-25 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 basketball student-athletes who were on a roster during the 2024-25 season. This is the fifth NABC Team Academic Award under Head Coach Kevin Kovacs.
The NABC recognized over 2,400 players on the NABC Honors Court and nearly 400 different programs on the NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards.
Gallaudet is one of five United East Conference member represented on the 2024-25 NABC Team Academic Excellence Award list as the Bison tallied a 3.18 team GPA. Gallaudet is joined by Cairn University, Penn State Harrisburg, St. Mary's College of Maryland and University of Valley Forge. Gallaudet is the only program from the District of Columbia on the list.
In addition to the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, four Bison student-athletes earned NABC Honors Court recognition. Gallaudet's honorees include senior Blessed Mbogo (Silver Spring, Md.), juniors Bruce Brewer Jr. (Santa Fe, N.M.) and Kyle Florio (Franklin, Mass.) and first year Jory Valencia (Riverside, Calif.). This is the third consecutive honor for Mbogo. The United East had 24 total honorees on the NABC Honors Court; Cairn and Valley Forge led the way with seven honorees followed by Gallaudet and St. Mary's (Md.) with four each, Penn College and Penn St.-Harrisburg had one each.
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.
