Seven Horizon League student-athletes named to CoSIDA basketball Academic All-District teams

Feb. 8, 2007

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Indianapolis, Ind. -- The Horizon League was well-represented when the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced its Academic All-District teams in men's and women's basketball Thursday (Feb. 8). Seven League competitors earned recognition for their efforts on the floor and in the classroom, with four gaining First-Team recognition and drawing consideration for Academic All-America status. The awards are sponsored by ESPN the Magazine.

Butler University and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay each had three players cited, with Wright State University providing the seventh player on the academic honor rolls.

On the men's side, the Horizon League features three of the five players honored on the First-Team quintet in District 5, as Butler junior teammates A.J. Graves and Drew Streicher join UW-Green Bay sophomore Mike Schachtner. District 5 encompasses the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Graves ranks fourth in the League with an 18.0 points-per-game scoring average and leads the nation as a 97.1 percent (102-of-105) free-throw shooter. He also stands fourth in the circuit at 1.43 steals per contest and tops the loop charts with a norm of 3.09 three-pointers per outing. Graves was the Most Valuable Player when Butler won the NIT Season Tip-Off, and has continued his success in pacing the Bulldogs to a 22-2 record and the No. 9 ranking in this week's ESPN/USA Today national poll. In the classroom, he carries a 3.39 grade-point average as a mathematics and actuarial science major.

Streicher has averaged 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game, often as the first player off the bench for the Bulldogs. He is shooting nearly 71 percent (48-of-68) from the field and 81 percent (21-of-26) at the free-throw line for the current League leader (10-1 in loop play) while maintaining a lofty 3.94 GPA as a chemistry/pre-med major.

Schachtner is averaging 14.7 points per game for the season, including a team-high 16.1 per outing in League play. The sophomore has scored 20 or more points six times this season, and ranks second in the League as a 49.4 percent shooter from three-point range. His overall field-goal clip of .502 is fifth-best in that department. Schachtner carries a 3.84 grade-point average in general studies.

On the women's side, senior Amanda Popp of UW-Green Bay was voted to the First-Team District 5 unit, with junior teammate Kayla Groh joining Butler senior Jackie Closser on the Second Team. Junior Whitney Lewis of Wright State was a Second-Team selection in District 4, which includes schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Popp averages 9.3 points per game for the League-leading Phoenix, standing fifth among League competitors with a .503 field-goal percentage. She is eighth in three-point percentage (.368) and also averages 2.33 assists per contest. Popp currently ranks second in school history for three-point percentage. Her academic efforts have produced a 3.79 GPA with a double major in psychology and human development.

Groh provides 9.0 points per outing and stands among the national leaders as an 85.7 percent shooter at the free-throw line. The latter number tops the League charts, while her 2.00 assist-to-turnover ratio is second only to teammate Natalie Berglin. Groh averages 2.67 assists per contest for the Phoenix, which currently leads the League at 9-0 in loop play---part of an 18-3 overall ledger including 15 consecutive victories. In the classroom, Groh carries a 3.61 grade-point average as a business administration major.

A First-Team All-League selection last winter, Closser currently ranks among the League's top ten in six different statistical categories, including scoring (seventh at 14.2 points per game), assists (third with 4.10 per outing), free-throw percentage (third at .838), assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth at 1.54) and three-point percentage (tenth at .358). She tops the circuit charts with a rate of 2.57 three-pointers per game, including a streak of 49 consecutive games with at least one trey, the longest active run in the nation. In the classroom, Closser owns a 3.62 grade-point average as an elementary education major.

Lewis missed seven games earlier this season due to a stress fracture in her foot, but ranks second on the team in scoring (11.5 points per game) while averaging 4.8 rebounds per contest. Her extended absence keeps Lewis off the League leader boards, but she leads the Raiders in field-goal percentage (.495, 55-of-111) and three-point accuracy (.419, 18-of-43), and she is second on the team with ten blocked shots despite missing 35 percent of her team's games so far this season. The League's Newcomer of the Year in 2004-05, Lewis owns a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in her studies as a psychology major.

As First-Team selections at the district level, Graves, Streicher, Schachtner and Popp are now eligible for Academic All-America consideration, joining fellow First-Teamers from the association's other seven districts around the nation on that ballot. The women's Academic All-America Team will be announced on February 27, with the men's team released the following day.

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Note: The CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 4 and 5 teams can be found in the PDF version of this release.