Green Bay and Youngstown State Women's Basketball Teams Rank in Top 10 of WBCA Academic Team Honor Roll
The Green Bay women’s basketball team was first, and the Youngstown State team sixth, in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division I Top 25 Team Honor Roll announced Tuesday. The Horizon League was one of just two conferences in Division I to have more than one member ranked in the top-10.
The WBCA Academic Top 25 annually recognizes NCAA Divisions I, II and III; NAIA; and junior/community college women’s basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined grade point averages (GPAs) inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season.
The Phoenix had a team GPA of 3.616 last season to lead all Division I programs. It is the program’s 10th appearance on the list in the 17 years the WBCA has produced the honor rolls.
Green Bay not only got the job done in the classroom, but on the court as well in the 2011-12 season. The Phoenix were regular season and tournament champions in the Horizon League as they finished the season with a 31-2 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The team finished the season ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll.
Youngstown State had a team GPA of 3.505 last season to rank sixth among all Division I women’s basketball teams. The Penguins won 10 games last season – more than the previous three seasons combined – as YSU continues to climb the Horizon League standings under Head Coach Bob Boldon.
This is the second consecutive season Youngstown State was a member of the top-25 as the Penguins were 11th last season with a team GPA of 3.395.
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.
The 2011-12 season is the 17th in which the WBCA has produced the honor rolls.
2012 WBCA Academic Top 25 for NCAA Division I
Rank | Institution | 2011-12 Head Coach | Team GPA |
1 | Green Bay | Matt Bollant | 3.616 |
2 | South Dakota State | Aaron Johnston | 3.610 |
3 | DePaul | Douglas Bruno | 3.604 |
4 | South Dakota | Ryun Williams | 3.595 |
5 | American | Matt Corkery | 3.563 |
6 | Youngstown State | Robert Boldon | 3.550 |
7 | Utah Valley | Cathy Nixon | 3.524 |
8 | North Dakota | Gene Roebuck | 3.505 |
9 | Florida Gulf Coast | Karl Smesko | 3.474 |
10 | St. Francis (N.Y.) | John Thurston | 3.456 |
11 | Montana State | Tricia Binford | 3.435 |
12 | Northern Colorado | Jaime White | 3.421 |
13 | Western Carolina | Karen Middleton | 3.406 |
14 (tie) | New Mexico | Yvonne Sanchez | 3.403 |
14 (tie) | Northern Iowa | Tanya Warren | 3.403 |
16 | North Dakota State | Carolyn DeHoff | 3.402 |
17 | Montana | Robin Selvig | 3.399 |
18 | Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne | Chris Paul | 3.398 |
19 | Bradley | Paula Buscher | 3.396 |
20 | Denver | Erik Johnson | 3.387 |
21 | Bucknell | Kathy Fedorjaka | 3.382 |
22 | Yale | Chris Gobrecht | 3.352 |
23 | Sacred Heart | Edward Swanson | 3.349 |
24 | Bowling Green | Curt Miller | 3.347 |
25 | Eastern Washington | Wendy Schuller | 3.337 |
