Winners recognized for academic excellence by the NABC
Seven Eastern Washington University men’s basketball players – the most in NCAA Division I and in the Big Sky Conference –were named to the 2018-19 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court it was announced on Wednesday, July 17.
Seniors Jesse Hunt and Ty Gibson were selected for the second-straight year. They were were joined by Steven Beo, Tyler Kidd, Mason Peatling, Joshua Thomas and Luka Vulikic. No other NCAA Division I school had seven selections.
The next closest schools were Bradley, Harvard and San Francisco with six each.
The most by another Big Sky Conference member was five by Idaho State.
The seven selections were the most EWU has had in a single season, bettering the six Eastern had in 2017-18. Four Eagles were selected for the 2014-15 school year.
Of the 29 selections in school history, 27 came in the last seven seasons beginning in 2012-13.
Besides Hunt and Gibson, repeat winners have included Bogdan Bliznyuk, Venky Jois, Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill and Julian Harrell.
The Honors Court recognizes men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom.
To qualify, recipients must have junior or senior standing academically, and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2018-19 academic year. They also must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
The Eastern men’s basketball team was honored recently for the sixth-straight year with the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award. That award was won by 165 colleges and universities for having a team cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and above for the 2018-19 season.
Eastern, Gonzaga and Seattle were the only NCAA Division I schools in the state of Washington to be honored. They were joined by Seattle Pacific from NCAA Division II. Eastern and Idaho State were the only Big Sky Conference schools to be recognized.
Eastern finished 12-8 in Big Sky Conference play, including a five-game winning streak late in the year to help secure third place in the regular season standings. The Eagles won its first two Big Sky Conference Tournament games before falling in the championship for the second-straight year.
After EWU started the season 1-9, Peatling returned from a toe injury and Eastern was 15-9 the rest of the season to finish 16-18. Eastern was just 1-3 to start league play, but went on to win 13 of its final 19 games of the season.
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