Horizon League trio earns men's basketball Academic All-District recognition

Feb. 8, 2008

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Indianapolis, Ind. -- Three Horizon League men's soccer players were honored Thursday (Feb. 7) as the College Sports Information Directors of America announced its Academic All-District Teams, sponsored by ESPN the Magazine. The district honor marks the first step on the road to Academic All-America honors.

Butler University seniors A.J. Graves and Drew Streicher joined University of Wisconsin-Green Bay junior Mike Schachtner on the five-member Academic All-District squad, which encompasses all Division I schools in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. All three were also Academic All-District selections last season.

Graves subsequently added CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors and was an Honorable-Mention All-America choice by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2006-07 after leading the Bulldogs to a League-record 29 victories (29-7 overall) and a berth in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. He was the League's only unanimous First-Team All-League pick last winter and entered his senior campaign as the League's Preseason Player of the Year.

This year, the Switz City, Ind., native ranks tenth in the Horizon League in scoring at 13.8 points per game with five performances of 20 points or better. He has 66 three-point field goals in 2007-08, including the buzzer-beater to defeat Southern Illinois University on Dec. 28, and 17 triples in three games at the Carr's/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.

Graves leads all active Horizon League players with 1,647 career points, ranking 29th in League history. In the classroom, he carries a 3.35 grade-point average as an actuarial science major. Graves is a two-time Academic All-Horizon League choice and a semifinalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

Streicher has started all 22 games for the Bulldogs this season, averaging 4.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game. He scored a season-high ten points to help lift the Bulldogs past Texas Tech University in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 24), giving Butler its second early-season tourney crown in as many years. Butler, which won the NIT Season Tip-Off in 2006, owns a 20-2 overall record and is ranked tenth in the nation according to the Associated Press and 11th according to this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches' canvass.

Streicher owns a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in Butler's graduate school, pursuing his master's degree in business administration. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry with a 3.95 undergraduate GPA. The former walk-on is a three-time Academic All-League honoree after sitting out the 2003-04 season as a redshirt.

In Graves and Streicher, Butler is one of only two schools in Division I to boast two Academic All-District selections. Sam Houston State University is the other institution to make that claim, with teammates Ryan Bright and Shamir McDaniel.

Schachtner stands third on the League scoring charts with his 17.4 points-per-game scoring pace and has posted 20 or more points eight times this season. He registered a season-best 34 points with seven three-pointers versus Valparaiso University on Jan. 12, and ranks second in the League as a 48.4 percent shooter from behind the arc.

Schachtner is one of only two players ranked among the Horizon League's top ten in all three shooting-percentage categories, topping the circuit charts in free-throw accuracy (.888, 19th-best in the nation) and standing seventh in field-goal marksmanship (.505). He scored his 1,000th point in a Green Bay uniform Dec. 15 at Wisconsin and enters this weekend's action with 1,191 career tallies.

Schachtner's academic résumé includes a 3.81 grade-point average as a psychology major. An Academic All-Horizon League selection in 2006-07, Schachtner was named the League's Scholar-Athlete of the Month for November

In the classroom, Schachtner holds a 3.81 grade-point average as a psychology major. Earlier this season, he was named the Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Month for November. He has also twice been honored as the Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week this season, on Nov. 20 and again on Jan. 15.

University of Evansville junior Jason Holsinger and Southern Illinois junior Bryan Mullins completed the District 5 honor roll.

To be eligible for Academic All-District consideration, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or higher (based on a 4.00 scale) with sophomore or higher standing both athletically and academically. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has presented Academic All-America honors to more than 14,000 student-athletes at the Division I, II, III and NAIA levels. The First-Team selections from each of CoSIDA's eight districts across the nation are placed on the ballot for Academic All-America consideration. The national honor roll will be announced on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

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CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine University Division Men's Basketball Academic All-District 5 Team
A.J. Graves, Butler * Sr. * Switz City, Ind. * 3.35 * Actuarial Science
Jason Holsinger, Evansville * Jr. * Lapel, Ind. * 3.86 * Social Studies Education / Economics
Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois * Jr. * Downers Grove, Ill. * 4.00 * Finance
Mike Schachtner, Green Bay * Jr. * Somerset, Wis. * 3.81 * Psychology
Drew Streicher, Butler-# * Gr. * Washington, Ind. * 4.00 * Business Administration

# - Streicher compiled a 3.95 undergraduate GPA as a chemistry major