Three Repeat Selections Highlight Men's Basketball All-Academic Squad - AmericaEast.com
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five men’s basketball student-athletes were named to the America East All-Academic team at the league’s annual awards brunch on Friday on the campus of University at Albany, which will host the 2009 Men’s Basketball Championship Friday through Sunday at SEFCU Arena. The student-athletes were recognized for their achievements athletically as well as academically.
Three of them, University at Albany’s Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.Y./Camden Catholic), University of Hartford’s Jaret von Rosenberg (Mission, Texas/Sharyland/Colin County) and University of Maine’s Junior Bernal (Manhattan, N.Y./Maine Central Institute) were all repeat selections. Von Rosenberg, a third-team All-America East choice, was the lone member of the team who also made an all-conference squad. UMBC’s Justin Fry (New Bloomfield, Pa./West Perry) and University of New Hampshire’s Radar Onguetou (Yaounde, Cameroon/New Hampton School) were the final selections. The pair had the highest grade-point averages of the bunch, achieving 3.32 and 3.41 marks, respectively.
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings. Faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor some of the league’s top athletes that are also quality students.
For the last two academic years, the All-Academic Team has been selected based on a formula. Starting this year, America East has adopted a more objective approach based on feedback from various coaches’ groups and administrators and approval by the athletic directors. The process will now resemble the CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program. Student-athletes worthy of consideration will now be nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by 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., 5 on the court for basketball). 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. Candidates must also be strong in the classroom and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshman are not eligible for consideration.