KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has announced its recipients of the 2023-24 NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards and NABC Honors Court, with the Norwich University men’s basketball team earning the Team Academic Excellence distinction while Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) and Donato Pakak (Sarasota, Fla.) were named to the Honors Court.

The NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards recognize men’s basketball programs that completed the 2023-24 academic year with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher.  The NABC Honors Court, meanwhile, includes junior, senior, and graduate assistant men’s basketball players who finished the 2023-24 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.

“The NABC is proud to celebrate these accomplished student-athletes, along with the coaches and staff who champion success in the classroom,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson.  “Education is a core value of the NABC, and the teams and athletes who earned these awards are proof that academic achievement remains a priority across every level of our sport.”

Both juniors, Liss, a criminal justice major, and Pakak, a computer security and information assurance major, helped lead the Cadets to one of their most successful seasons in recent memory.  The team amassed 18 wins and claimed a victory at Lasell University in the GNAC Quarterfinals, qualifying for the GNAC Semifinals.

Liss capped off the year by being named to the GNAC All-Conference First Team, while both were recently tapped to the GNAC Academic All-Conference Team.