WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- Five men’s basketball student-athletes were named to the America East All-Academic team at the league’s awards reception on Friday at the University of Hartford, which is hosting the 2010 America East Men’s & Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Newman’s Own Thursday through Sunday at Chase Family Arena.
The team consists of University at Albany’s Billy Allen (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton), Boston University’s Tyler Morris (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North), University of Maine’s Andrew Rogers (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), University of New Hampshire’s Brian Benson (Rochester, N.Y./Greece-Athena) and Stony Brook University’s Andrew Goba (Durban, South Africa/Durban).
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the second straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisors and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., 11 on the field for soccer) but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.