KANSAS CITY — The Piedmont College men's basketball team was awarded the 2017-18 Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced Wednesday. This marks the fifth straight season the Lions have earned this honor with this being the sixth annual listing by the NABC & the NABC Committee on Academics.
In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA must count the grade point averages of all men's student-athletes who competed during the 2017-18 season. The award recognizes teams with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better over the 2017-18 season.
Piedmont was one of just three USA South teams to earn the honor as LaGrange College and North Carolina Wesleyan College also made the cut.
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches.
