Basketball earns NABC Team Academic Excellence Award again; Anderson also recognized
7/28/2021 12:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Missouri – For the fourth time in the past six seasons, Montana was awarded with the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, given annually to collegiate basketball programs who boast a team cumulative grade-point average above 3.0. The NABC – college basketball's governing body – made the announcement on Wednesday morning, a day after unveiling its list of Honors Court student-athletes, which included rising senior Mack Anderson.
Anderson, a native of Bozeman, Montana, is Montana's 13th all-time selection for the Honors Court award, which began in 2007. In order to be selected to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must be at least a junior as of the 2020-21 season and hold a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
In all likelihood, the list will continue to grow at a rapid rate over the next several seasons as Montana's youthful roster rises in status. For instance, at the conclusion of the 2020-21 basketball season, Anderson was one of just two juniors or seniors on roster.
Montana had nine players on its 2020-21 roster reach the academic threshold of a 3.2 cumulative GPA, but Anderson was the only one who had accumulated enough service time to be nominated, which is a good problem to have moving forward – both in the classroom and on the court. The Grizzlies return more than 80 percent of their minutes played, scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots from last year's team that advanced to the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament.
Anderson, who is working toward a degree in business marketing, is a three-time Academic All-Big Sky selection. Earlier this month, he was one of nine men's basketball players to receive the distinction, a number never before reached by Montana in the long history of the award.
In the previous 38 years of the award's existence, Montana had averaged 2.66 selections per season, including seven total over the previous two years combined. To have nine in a single year speaks to the commitment Montana's young student-athletes are putting in the classroom.
"Much of the credit goes to the student-athletes, who are the ones earning these marks," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "It says a lot about how important academics either is, or has become, during their time here. Our staff has done a good job of recruiting guys who come from families who support and encourage our level of urgency in the classroom."
In total, Montana's cumulative GPA during the 2020-21 academic year was above 3.30, with 10 individuals reaching 3.0 and none being below 2.0.
"I think you also have to give a shout out to Coach (Jay) Flores and Coach (Zach) Payne for the time and energy they have put in to academics, along with Anderson Clarke for the study halls and communication," DeCuire continued. "Those guys have done a phenomenal job being both assistant coaches and academic advisors."
To DeCuire, the academic honors are a nice touch, and something he is very proud of. But they're just an added bonus to the number he cares most about: 100.
Anyone who has been following Griz basketball over the past several years knows the stat, because it gets repeated often. During DeCuire's tenure as head coach at Montana, 100 percent of the players who finish their careers at Montana have earned a degree.
The number is stated over and over again intentionally. It's the first thing he mentions during his recruiting pitch to a prospective student-athlete and is a number he is committed to keeping.
"I open every conversation with that because we put a lot of pressure on our guys to perform in the classroom," DeCuire said. "'Academics' will be one of the top three things that a recruit is going to mention to us in terms of what he is looking for, but when you ask them to explain it, that's when you get different views from each family.
"We have a long list of young men who are the first in their family with a college diploma, so for them, the importance of academics – more so than the GPA – is getting a diploma. Then, you have a list of young men who know what they want to pursue and what they want to go into, and our job is to help them achieve their goals."
In the end, DeCuire enjoys accolades like the record-setting nine Academic All-Big Sky recipients or the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award. But mostly, he likes them because it means that the next wave of student-athletes are on track to graduate.
"It's deeper than a GPA," DeCuire said. "When you're trying to maintain a 3.0 as a program, what really happens is you pass all of your classes and you graduate, and so we pay close attention to each person's ability and the goals they have, or need to have, in order to reach that ultimate goal of earning a degree and being successful after college."
Anderson, a native of Bozeman, Montana, is Montana's 13th all-time selection for the Honors Court award, which began in 2007. In order to be selected to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must be at least a junior as of the 2020-21 season and hold a 3.2 cumulative GPA.
In all likelihood, the list will continue to grow at a rapid rate over the next several seasons as Montana's youthful roster rises in status. For instance, at the conclusion of the 2020-21 basketball season, Anderson was one of just two juniors or seniors on roster.
Montana had nine players on its 2020-21 roster reach the academic threshold of a 3.2 cumulative GPA, but Anderson was the only one who had accumulated enough service time to be nominated, which is a good problem to have moving forward – both in the classroom and on the court. The Grizzlies return more than 80 percent of their minutes played, scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots from last year's team that advanced to the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament.
Anderson, who is working toward a degree in business marketing, is a three-time Academic All-Big Sky selection. Earlier this month, he was one of nine men's basketball players to receive the distinction, a number never before reached by Montana in the long history of the award.
In the previous 38 years of the award's existence, Montana had averaged 2.66 selections per season, including seven total over the previous two years combined. To have nine in a single year speaks to the commitment Montana's young student-athletes are putting in the classroom.
"Much of the credit goes to the student-athletes, who are the ones earning these marks," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "It says a lot about how important academics either is, or has become, during their time here. Our staff has done a good job of recruiting guys who come from families who support and encourage our level of urgency in the classroom."
In total, Montana's cumulative GPA during the 2020-21 academic year was above 3.30, with 10 individuals reaching 3.0 and none being below 2.0.
"I think you also have to give a shout out to Coach (Jay) Flores and Coach (Zach) Payne for the time and energy they have put in to academics, along with Anderson Clarke for the study halls and communication," DeCuire continued. "Those guys have done a phenomenal job being both assistant coaches and academic advisors."
To DeCuire, the academic honors are a nice touch, and something he is very proud of. But they're just an added bonus to the number he cares most about: 100.
Anyone who has been following Griz basketball over the past several years knows the stat, because it gets repeated often. During DeCuire's tenure as head coach at Montana, 100 percent of the players who finish their careers at Montana have earned a degree.
The number is stated over and over again intentionally. It's the first thing he mentions during his recruiting pitch to a prospective student-athlete and is a number he is committed to keeping.
"I open every conversation with that because we put a lot of pressure on our guys to perform in the classroom," DeCuire said. "'Academics' will be one of the top three things that a recruit is going to mention to us in terms of what he is looking for, but when you ask them to explain it, that's when you get different views from each family.
"We have a long list of young men who are the first in their family with a college diploma, so for them, the importance of academics – more so than the GPA – is getting a diploma. Then, you have a list of young men who know what they want to pursue and what they want to go into, and our job is to help them achieve their goals."
In the end, DeCuire enjoys accolades like the record-setting nine Academic All-Big Sky recipients or the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award. But mostly, he likes them because it means that the next wave of student-athletes are on track to graduate.
"It's deeper than a GPA," DeCuire said. "When you're trying to maintain a 3.0 as a program, what really happens is you pass all of your classes and you graduate, and so we pay close attention to each person's ability and the goals they have, or need to have, in order to reach that ultimate goal of earning a degree and being successful after college."
Players Mentioned
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