July 17, 2012

ATLANTA --Two years removed from having the nation's top GPA in the classroom, the Utah Valley University women's basketball team landed a spot in the top 10 once again as it ranked seventh with a 3.524 team GPA on the 2011-12 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division I Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.

The honor marks the sixth consecutive season the Coach Cathy Nixon's squad has made the cut and the third straight that it has secured a spot in the top 10.

Green Bay was tops on the list with a 3.616 GPA, while South Dakota State ranked second (3.610), DePaul third (3.604), South Dakota fourth (3.595), American fifth (3.563), Youngstown State sixth (3.550), North Dakota eighth (3.505), Florida Gulf Coast ninth (3.474) and St. Francis (N.Y.) rounded out the top 10 with a 3.456 GPA. For a complete list of all 25 teams see below.

This year five of the top 25 teams on the Division I honor roll earned a berth in the 2012 NCAA tournament. The WBCA also honors Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior/Community College institutions and UVU's former SWAC rival Salt Lake Community College boasted the best GPA in the Junior/Community College division with a 3.379 clip.

"I look forward to the release of the Academic Top 25 each summer," said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. "Because our society places so much emphasis on winning games and championships, it is a refreshing change of pace when we recognize those teams that excel in the classroom.

"Like winning on the court, academic success on a team level does not happen by accident. It requires a group of student-athletes who realize the importance of education and earning their degrees, coaches who expect and encourage their players to attend class and study, and administrators who provide strong academic support programs for their athletes," said Bass.

"The teams composing the Academic Top 25 each year are always the real winners in women's college basketball."

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.

UVU also had a successful season on the hardwood in 2011-12 as it finished with an even .500 record (15-15), second in the Great West (6-4) and made it to the GWC title game.

Here is the complete 2012 WBCA Academic Top 25 for NCAA Division I Team (**-NCAA tournament team; *-left after season):

	Rank	Institution	2011-12 Head Coach	Team GPA
	1	Green Bay**	Matt Bollant*	3.616
	2	South Dakota State**	Aaron Johnston	3.61
	3	DePaul**	Douglas Bruno	3.604
	4	South Dakota	Ryun Williams*	3.595
	5	American	Matt Corkery	3.563
	6	Youngstown State	Robert Boldon	3.55
	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