We smart.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the fifth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics. The University of Louisville is one of 213 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 2016-17 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 2016-17 season.
While the University of Louisville men’s basketball team has performed well on the court, the Cardinals have excelled in the classroom as well. The team produced a collective 3.13 grade point average for 2016-17, just below its record 3.40 GPA from the 2013-14 season.
Louisville has received an NCAA Public Recognition Award each of the last five years for ranking among the top 10 percent in men’s basketball in the Academic Progress Rate, which measures academic eligibility, retention and graduation for student-athletes. The Cardinals had a perfect 1000 APR score for the last four years. Over the four-year period of the most recent multiyear APR report from 2012-16, Louisville’s academic success has come while the men’s basketball team won a combined 116 games, capturing the 2013 NCAA championship, and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 on three occasions.
UofL had a collective 3.18 GPA for the 2016 fall semester and 11 of 15 Cardinals earned a 3.0 or better, including six with a 3.4 or higher GPA. The men’s basketball team has had a collective 3.0 GPA for 18 consecutive semesters. Louisville placed a league-high six individuals on the 27-member 2017 ACC All-Academic Team, and placed a conference-best seven on the team each of the previous two seasons.
Prior to entering the ACC, UofL’s men’s basketball team earned four straight league Team Academic Excellence Awards, recognizing the highest collective grade-point averages in each of the conference sports (2014 American Athletic Conf., 2011-13 Big East).
