EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With a collective 3.340 grade point average, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team ranked 24th in the nation on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Academic Top 25 Honor Roll for 2010-11 season.
“Making the WBCA Academic Top 25 is a major accomplishment for our women's basketball program,” said Head Coach Oties Epps, who was introduced May 18th as the 10th head coach in the 42-year history of women's basketball at the University of Evansville.
“It speaks to the effort and focus that our student-athletes have shown throughout the year,” Epps added. “The University of Evansville makes a conscious effort to ensure that our student-athletes are successful in the classroom and on the court.”
The honor marks the third time in the last five years in which the Purple Aces have ranked among the nation’s Top 25 academically.
The WBCA annually recognizes NCAA Divisions I, II and III; NAIA; and junior college/community college teams across the nation that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2010-11 season is the 14th in which the WBCA has presented the standings.
A team’s GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by the total number of hours attempted by all team members in the academic terms (semesters or quarters) that the season spans. Weighted grades are converted to a 4.0 scale. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point. Teams are nominated for the honor by a WBCA-member head coach. A team must have a 3.000 or better GPA to be nominated.
Here is the complete 2011 WBCA Academic Top 25 for NCAA Division I:
|
|
Rank
|
Institution
|
Head Coach
|
Team GPA
|
|
|
1
|
South Dakota State University
|
Aaron Johnston
|
3.666
|
|
|
2
|
Bucknell University
|
Kathy Fedorjaka
|
3.632
|
|
|
3
|
DePaul University
|
Douglas Bruno
|
3.582
|
|
|
4
|
Creighton University
|
Jim Flanery
|
3.527
|
|
|
5
|
Utah Valley University
|
Cathy Nixon
|
3.524
|
|
|
6
|
Indiana State University
|
Teri Moren
|
3.518
|
|
|
7
|
University of Hartford
|
Jennifer Rizzoti
|
3.456
|
|
|
8
|
University of New Mexico
|
Don Flanagan
|
3.454
|
|
|
9
|
University of Dayton
|
James Jabir
|
3.445
|
|
|
10
|
Canisius College
|
Terrence Ze
|
3.441
|
|
|
11
|
Bowling Green State University
|
Curt Miller
|
3.433
|
|
|
12
|
Montana State University-Bozeman
|
Tricia Binford
|
3.419
|
|
|
13
|
University of Montana
|
Robin Selvig
|
3.411
|
|
|
14
|
University of Akron
|
Jodi Kest
|
3.405
|
|
|
15
|
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
|
Sandy Botham
|
3.402
|
|
|
16
|
Oakland University
|
Beckie Francis
|
3.399
|
|
|
17
|
Youngstown State University
|
Robert Boldon
|
3.395
|
|
|
18
|
University of South Dakota
|
Ryun Williams
|
3.390
|
|
|
19
|
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
|
Matthew Bollant
|
3.378
|
|
|
20
|
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
|
Phil Stern
|
3.374
|
|
|
21
|
Lipscomb University
|
Frank Bennett
|
3.373
|
|
|
T22
|
University of North Dakota
|
Gene Roebuck
|
3.358
|
|
|
T22
|
University of Northern Colorado
|
Jaime White
|
3.358
|
|
|
24
|
University of Evansville
|
Oties Epps
|
3.340
|
|
|
25
|
University of Denver
|
Erik Johnson
|
3.335
|
