Trio of Men's Basketball Players Earn Capital One All-Region Accolades

INDIANAPOLIS – Three Horizon League men’s basketball players – Butler senior Ronald Nored (Homewood, Ala./Homewood), Loyola junior Ben Averkamp (Germantown, Wis./Germantown) and Milwaukee senior Tony Meier (Wildwood, Mo./Wildwood) earned places on the Capital One Academic All-District Teams. All three will now appear on the national ballot for Academic All-America honors.

Nored and Averkamp composed forty percent of the All-District V squad, joining Drew Crawford (Northwestern), Aaron Craft (Ohio State) and Zack Novak (Michigan), while Meier was part of the All-District 6 team with Jared Berggren (Wisconsin), Brayden Carlson (South Dakota State), Brian Conklin (Saint Louis) and Tony Fiegen (South Dakota State).

Nored, an honor student majoring in Early Childhood/Middle Childhood Education, currently leads the Bulldogs in assists (4.6) and steals (2.0), and he ranks third on the team in scoring (8.4).  Earlier this season, he became just the fifth player in Butler basketball history to record 400 career assists, and he ranks second on Butler’s all-time list for steals with 188.  He’s the lone Butler player to start all 25 games this season, and he’s played in 131 career games, including 113 as a starter.

The 6-foot point guard is one of just two players (teammate Andrew Smith is the other) to see action in each of the past two NCAA Division I national championship games.  He’s helped Butler to 100 victories in his four seasons and back-to-back Final Four appearances.

Nored, who was named Horizon League Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2009-10, was a preseason pick on the 2011-12 Lou Henson All-America Team, and is one of 10 finalists for the 2012 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

Averkamp is looking to become Loyola University Chicago’s first-ever Academic All-American in men’s basketball. The 6-foot-8 forward leads the team with averages of 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.

This season, Averkamp has scored in double figures on 14 occasions, scoring 20 or more points six times, including a career-best 31-point performance in a come-from-behind, buzzer-beating win at Toledo on December 10.

An exceptional student who plans to attend medical school, Averkamp is a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll and last season was named to the Horizon League Men’s Basketball All-Academic Team.

On the court this year, Meier is averaging 9.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game after missing the first six games of the year with a calf injury.

In the classroom, Meier has earned a 3.65 grade-point average as a business major. Meier was one of eight Panther men's basketball players to earn a 3.0 grade-point average this fall.

Last season, Meier was one of 11 players named to the NACDA Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete. He was also on the Horizon League's Winter All-Academic Team and is a regular on the league's honor roll. He also helped the Panthers to the league regular season title and a berth in the NIT.

To be considered for Capital One Academic All-District selection, a student-athlete must have completed at least one year at the member institution and own a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher (on a 4.00 scale).