2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Men's & Women's Basketball Teams release dates:
College Division Team: below
NCAA Division III Team: Tue., March 1
NCAA Division II Team: Wed., March 2
NCAA Division I Team: Thr., March 3
Academic All-America Program Overview & Links
• Academic All-America® Basketball Teams - College Division
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Senior Brandon Cole from Bryan College and
senior Lydia Nash of Union (Ky.) College highlight the 2015-16 Academic All-America® College Division Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams as released by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division basketball teams include student-athletes from NAIA, Canadian and two-year institutions.
Cole and Nash have been chosen as the CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year award winners for the men’s and women’s
Brandon Cole Lydia Nash
basketball teams, respectively.
A senior majoring in exercise health science from Crossville, Tennessee,
Cole boasts of not only carrying a 3.83 G.P.A., but also having become Bryan’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Cole produced 2,799 points, 1,235 rebounds, 110 assists and 142 steals during his career.
As a senior, Cole has raked in first-team All-Appalachian Athletic Conference, conference Champions of Character team, Tennessee Sports Writers Association Player of the Week and made the top 100 watch list for the Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award, which goes to the Small College Basketball player of the year. His 29.1 points per game tops NAIA Division II, while his 10.9 rebounding average ranks fifth nationally.
During his college career, Cole has been three-time first-team All-AAC, 10-time conference player of the week, conference freshman of the year, honorable-mention NAIA Division II All-American as a sophomore and league player of the year and third-team All-American as a junior. In 2014-15, Cole led NAIA Division II with 29.1 points and 11.3 rebounds a contest.
A senior athletic training major with a 4.00 grade point average from Florence, Kentucky, Nash recorded 1,760 points and 569 rebounds while being a four-year starter for Union. She ranks third all-time in program history in scoring and 10th in rebounding.
This season, she leads the team with 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Nash took first-team All-Appalachian Athletic Conference honors for the third time. She has also been named honorable-mention Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American and Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete as a junior. In 2014-15, Nash made the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Second Team.
The cumulative G.P.A. for the CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Men’s Basketball first team was 3.92 while the first team for the CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Women’s Basketball amassed a 3.86 G.P.A.
Members of the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Men’s Basketball Team to earn multiple All-American honors were
Trae Bergh from Dakota Wesleyan University,
Chandler Folkerts of Concordia (Neb.) University and
Zach Rockers of Columbia (Mo.) College.
The men’s first team includes Bergh, Cole, Folkerts,
Kyle Steigenga of Cornerstone University and
Cyrus Ward of Corban University. The second team is comprised of Rockers,
Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Trey Bardsley,
Cameron Clark of Southwestern (Kan.) College,
Lucas Huffman of Indiana University East and
Corey Ricks of Reinhardt (Ga.) University.
Bergh, a senior from Crooks, South Dakota, has compiled a 3.97 G.P.A. studying athletic training. For the second straight season, he has been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® First Team. Bergh is one of only two Dakota Wesleyan men's basketball players to ever receive the award and the only to be honored twice. Bergh leads the Tigers in scoring with 21.7 points per game. He recently had a stretch of four straight games scoring at least 29 points in each contest. Earlier this season, Bergh became the 15th Tiger to reach 1,500 career points and set new school records for 3-pointers in a game (12) and in a career (314).
A junior from Milford, Nebraska,
Folkerts is pursuing degrees in mathematics and physics from Concordia and has a 4.00 G.P.A. A first-team All-Great Plains Athletic Conference pick last season, Folkerts averaged 19.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor, a shooting percentage which places Folkerts second best among NAIA Division II. Folkerts leads all GPAC players with 13 double-doubles. Folkerts rose on Concordia’s all-time program lists to the top 15 in scoring (1,397 points) and rebounding (618).
Rockers, a senior from Centertown, Missouri, is currently pursuing a master's degree in education and has a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. Rogers has started in all but one game for the fifth-ranked Cougars this season and is second on the team in points per game (12.2) and leads the squad averaging 7.0 rebounds per game entering the team’s final regular-season game. Rockers has recorded six double-doubles. Rockers became the 24th player in Cougar men's basketball program history to score 1,000 points Jan. 14 against Park University and now stands at 1,132 career points. In addition, on Dec. 30 in a win over Philander Smith College, Rockers earned his 100th career win as a Cougar. He becomes the 15th Cougar to make the century club and has helped Columbia to a 112-20 record during his career.
The CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Women's Basketball Team includes first teamers Nash,
Sarah Bonar of the University of Rio Grande,
Cassidy Deno of Purdue University Calumet,
Catie Fletcher from Asbury University and
Jessica Tietz of Morningside College.
Second team selections were
Heather Broman from Doane College,
Bailey Brown of McPherson College,
Kara Krolicki of Saint Xavier University,
Becky Williford of Roosevelt University and
Julia Young of Corban.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michael MacEachern, Young Harris College (
mfmaceachern@yhc.edu) (706) 379-5106
Academic All-America ® Vice Co-Chair for Publicity/Communications
Rich Tortorelli, Oklahoma City University (
rtortorelli@okc.edu) (405) 208-5304
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity