TOWSON, Md. - For seniors
Matt Howard of Butler University and Maya Moore of the University of Connecticut, the Capital One Academic All-America® of the Year basketball award winners, it is quite appropriate that they will be closing out their distinguished careers this weekend in the Final Four.
A finance and MIS major with a 3.77 G.P.A.,
Howard has led eighth-seeded Butler to its second straight appearance in the Final Four.
An individualized major with a 3.70 G.P.A., Moore has guided two-time defending national champion Connecticut to the Final Four for the fourth year in a row.
A 6-8 forward, Howard has led Butler to 13 consecutive wins. The Bulldogs qualified for the NCAA
Tournament by winning the Horizon League Tournament. The Horizon League Tournament's Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, he helped Butler win the NCAA Southeast regional tournament by averaging 16.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Named to the all-tournament team at the Southeast regional, Howard scored the game-winning basket at the buzzer in the eighth-seeded Bulldogs' 60-58 win over Old Dominion in the second round.
He added 16 points in Butler's 71-70 victory over top-seeded Pittsburgh. In the regional semi-finals, he posted a "double double," scoring 20 points with 12 rebounds in a 61-54 victory over Wisconsin. In the regional championship game, he added 14 points in a 74-71 overtime win against second-seeded Florida.
The third-leading scorer and rebounder in school history, the Connersville, Ind. native enters the Final Four with 1,915 career points and 870 career rebounds.
While averaging 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for Coach Brad Stevens, Howard has guided Butler to a 27-9 record and their second straight Final Four appearance. Butler is only the 11th school since 1985 to reach the Final Four in back-to-back seasons. The recipient of an NCAA Elite 88 award for the second time, he has a .489 field goal percentage and leads the team with a .781 free throw mark.
Named to the Capital One Academic All-America® Men's Basketball University Division first team for the second year in a row, Howard led Butler to a 33-5 record and a berth in the 2010 NCAA Championship Game where the Bulldogs lost to Duke, 61-59.
Butler will be trying to reach the national championship game for the second year in a row when the Bulldogs face Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA semi-finals on Saturday, April 2 at 6:09 p.m. in Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The winner of the Butler-VCU game will play the winner of the Connecticut-Kentucky semi-final on Monday night in the national championship game.
Named as the Capital One Women's Basketball University Division Academic All-America® of the Year for the second straight season,
Moore will lead two-time defending NCAA champion Connecticut in its quest for a third straight national championship. Ranked number one in the nation, UConn has a 36-1 record and has won 114 of its last 115 games.
The seventh player in NCAA Division I history to score 3,000 career points, she was named as the Most Outstanding Performer at the Philadelphia Regional this week. After scoring 23 points with 14 rebounds in a 68-63 win over Georgetown in the semi-finals, she led UConn to a convincing 65-40
victory over #6 Duke in the regional championship game. In the win over Duke, she scored her 3,000th career point by tallying a game high 28 points. She also had ten rebounds and seven steals.
In four NCAA Tournament games this year, she is averaging 19.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. The all-time leading scorer in UConn history, she is tied for second place on UConn's all-time rebounding list with Rebecca Lobo, '95, a member of the Capital One Academic All-America® Hall of Fame.
Named as the Most Outstanding Performer at the 2010 NCAA Division I Tournament, Moore is a two-time winner of the Wade Trophy as the top women's basketball player in the nation. Moore has been named as the BIG EAST Player of the Year three times.
A four-year starter who led Coach Geno Auriemma's team to back-to-back undefeated national championships, Moore has led UConn to a remarkable 150-3 record. A four-time All-BIG EAST first team pick, she was a catalyst in the Huskies' NCAA-record 90-game winning streak that ended in December.
As a senior, she is averaging 22.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game as well as 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals per contest. In her career, she has scored in double figures in 149 of 153 games to set an NCAA record. Named as the BIG EAST Player of the Week 12 times, she was named as the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year twice.
A native of Lawrenceville, Ga., she has a very good chance to finish her career as the fourth-leading scorer in NCAA Division I history.
UConn will face BIG EAST rival Notre Dame (30-7) in the national semi-finals on Sunday, April 3 at Conseco Field House in Indianapolis, Ind. In the first semi-final game, Stanford (33-2) plays Texas A&M (31-5) at 7 p.m. (EST).
The two winners will meet for the national championship on Tuesday, April 5.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (
www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., had $122.2 billion in deposits and $197.5 billion in total assets outstanding as of December 31, 2010. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.
Capital One, an NCAA Corporate Champion, began its affiliation with college sports with the sponsorship of the 2001 Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (now the Capital One Bowl) and ESPN's Capital One Bowl Week. In 2010, Capital One launched the Capital One Cup, a prestigious new program rewarding NCAA Division I athletics programs for their cumulative on-field performance across multiple men's and women's sports. In addition, Capital One sponsors the ABC College Football Halftime Report, Capital One All-America Mascot Team, all 88 NCAA Championships including the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, and numerous other collegiate athletics programs.
The Capital One Academic All-America®
Program
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America® honors on more than 15,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
Visit www.Cosida.com for more information about the
Academic All-America® Teams program.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan O'Connell, Towson University
Academic All-America ® Vice-Chair for Publicity/Communications
email:
doconnell@towson.edu
phone: (410) 704-3102
Jeff Schwartz
North Dakota State University
Academic All-America ® Coordinator of Publicity
email:
Jeff.Schwartz@ndsu.edu
phone: (701) 231-8332