AUSTIN, Texas — Belmont University men’s basketball senior Evan Bradds (Jamestown Greeneview) has been named to the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I Men’s Basketball Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday.
“There cannot be too many players in college basketball history to have been named conference player of the year and academic all-american in consecutive years,” Belmont head coach Rick Byrd said. “Our staff and our team celebrate this significant award as Evan carries on our program’s tradition of excellence in the classroom.”
The 6-foot-7 forward, who Tuesday became the fourth player this millennium to earn Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors in successive seasons, is a finalist for two prestigious national honors – the Julius Erving Award and Senior CLASS Award.
Bradds is the OVC active leader in points (1,880) and rebounds (898), and is 40 points shy of Belmont’s NCAA Division I era career scoring mark held by Golden State Warriors guard Ian Clark.
He ranks second in the OVC and 22nd nationally in points per game (20.8).
In fact, Bradds’ career field goal percentage of .674 is third all-time in NCAA Division I men’s basketball since the statistical category was first tracked in 1948.
Bradds has scored in double figures in 53 of his last 59 games, including 25 games this season.
Last season, Bradds was named Honorable Mention AP All-American, and All-District by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
A two-time OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipient, Bradds earned placement on the 2016 NACDA DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team and NABC Honors.
This marks the second consecutive season Bradds received CoSIDA Academic All-America® and Academic All-District honors.
He currently holds a 3.49 grade-point average in his chosen major of finance.
This marks the 25th time a Belmont student-athlete has received Academic All-America honors.
Belmont men’s basketball leads the nation in CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2000-01 with 15.
Bradds joins Wes Burtner (2001, 2002), Adam Mark (2002, 2003, 2004), Justin Hare (2007, 2008), Andy Wicke (2009), Scott Saunders (2011, 2012), J.J. Mann (2014) and Craig Bradshaw (2015, 2016) so honored.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution and be nominated by his media relations’ director.
For a complete listing of the 2016-17 Academic All-America® Division I Men’s Basketball Team, log onto www.cosida.com.
