The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team was recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches with a Team Academic Excellence Award, announced today by the organization. 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.

In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men’s student-athletes who competed during the 2023-24 season. The NABC’s academic awards recognize teams and athletes from all levels of college basketball. Over 2,100 players earned spots on the NABC Honors Court and over 360 programs received NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards for 2023-24.

The Gopher men’s basketball program received the department’s Norman Borlaug Award this year, which is awarded to a men’s athletic team that demonstrates the highest commitment to academic excellence. Beginning in spring of 2022, men’s basketball has obtained 21 degrees, including 12 at the master’s level. In addition, Minnesota had a program-record eight Academic All-Big Ten selections in the 2023-24 campaign. The team also had back-to-back semesters of program-record cumulative GPA of 3.36 in the spring of 2023 and 3.37 GPA in the fall of 2023 and achieved a 3.22 in the spring of 2024. 

The NABC Honors Court, meanwhile, includes junior, senior and graduate student men’s basketball players who finished the 2023-24 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. This included the following from Gopher men’s basketball: Dawson Garcia, Parker Fox, Isaiah Ihnen, Jackson Purcell, Will Ramberg and Jack Wilson.