Cougs Nearly Sweep All-Academic Awards!

by johnnycougar on Mar 24, 2009 11:50 AM PDT

This could have just been a FanShot but I wanted to elaborate a little bit. Check out the Pac-10 All-Academic Men's Basketball First Team:

First Team, Year, GPA, Major
Aron Baynes, WSU, Sr., 3.24, Movement Studies
Derek Glasser, ASU, Jr., 3.14, Communications
Daven Harmeling, WSU, Sr., 3.54, Health and Fitness Education
Nikola Koprivica, WSU, Jr., 3.39, International Business
Taylor Rochestie, WSU, Sr., 3.37, Communication

from the Pac-10 official site.

Hmmm, no biggy, just four of the five First Team spots are occupied by WSU Cougars!

Now that is what I call upperclassman leadership. Let's hope that in addition to all the basketball knowledge our guys passed on to the freshmen this year, there also were some nuggets regarding study habits and the importance of a college degree.

I don't want to be too cheesy here, but it is good to see that Tony Bennett means what he says about teaching the guys to become men, not just basketball players.

Also, with all of the negative attention the last few years around the football team, it is very refreshing to see a basketball team with good habits, obviously reflecting the personality of the coach. This is what college is truly about for most of these guys, and if / when their basketball careers peter out, whether here or abroad, they will have something to fall back on.

For completeness sake, here is the Second Team:

Second Team, Year, GPA, Major
Nikola Knezevic, CAL, Jr., 3.03, Interdisciplinary Studies
Rihards Kuksiks, ASU, So., 3.07, Business Communications
Roeland Schaftenaar, OSU, Jr., 3.17, Pre-Business
Drew Shiller, STAN, Jr., 3.08, Communication
Jordan Wilkes, CAL, Sr., 3.13, Social Welfare

And don't forget, this was last year's team (emphasis mine):

First Team Year GPA Major
Bret Brielmaier, ARIZ Sr. 3.09 Interdisciplinary Studies
Robbie Cowgill, WSU Sr. 3.36 Management Operations
Taj Finger, STAN Sr. 3.06 Communication
Daven Harmeling, WSU RJr. 3.51 Health and Fitness Education
Taylor Rochestie, WSU RJr. 3.27 Communication

Second Team Year GPA Major
Alfred Aboya, UCLA Jr. 3.06 Political Science
Aron Baynes, WSU Jr. 3.15 Movement Studies
Nikola Knezevic, CAL So. 3.21 Interdisciplinary Studies
Nikola Koprivica, WSU So. 3.31 Undeclared
Roeland Schaftenaar, OSU So. 3.29 Pre-Business

GO COUGS!

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Comments

Truly awesome

I always love looking at the players and their majors.

Daven: Majoring in coaching
Glasser and Rochestie: Majoring in talking
Nikola: Majoring in going back to Serbia and getting rich
Aron: I have no idea what movement studies are

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 24, 2009 12:45 PM PDT reply actions

Aron was probably learning

how to better move that giant frame of his more effectively.

by tinit on Mar 24, 2009 1:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Strangely appropriate, I thought

Tony Bennett for Heisman!

by johnnycougar on Mar 24, 2009 3:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Movement Studies- basically kinesiology

Movement Studies

by cfred on Mar 24, 2009 1:44 PM PDT up reply actions

What factors do they use to award the All-Academic Honors?

From looking at last season’s results… it’s obviously not just based on GPA alone.

by cfred on Mar 24, 2009 1:47 PM PDT reply actions

This is just a guess

But the 1st teamers tend to be the oldest it looks like. Last year, the 1st team was all seniors and redshirt juniors, and the 2nd team is juniors and sophomores. This year the same trend holds. Probably they just take the top 10 GPA scores of players who actually get some minutes and then order them by seniority.

Tony Bennett for Heisman!

by johnnycougar on Mar 24, 2009 3:37 PM PDT up reply actions

GPA

I think it’s odd how a 3.03 made second team all-academic. Is that really all that impressive?

by displacedcoug on Mar 24, 2009 3:58 PM PDT reply actions

Color me not all that impressed at Derek Glasser

And his 3.14 in communications, a historically high-GPA major, at Arizona State. I think Schaftenaar should’ve made first team over him with the 3.17.

by Grady Clapp on Mar 24, 2009 4:52 PM PDT up reply actions

On its own it's not impressive

But for at least 5 months (and sometimes more) of the school year, these guys basically have full time jobs (between practice, weight lifting, shooting drills, and media obligations) and also have a minimum of 12 credit hours.

I have no idea how many professors cut these guys slack, but even so there are tests and homeworks multiple times a semester, and everyone is forced to miss at least two days of class every two weeks on the Pac 10 travel schedule.

I used to think so-called student athletes had it really easy but after looking into it a bit I have discovered that they really don’t have much free time. Certainly less free time than regular students taking easy to moderately difficult majors.

Tony Bennett for Heisman!

by johnnycougar on Mar 24, 2009 5:31 PM PDT up reply actions