It's Academic
March 04, 2004 03:11 PM | General
March 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University sophomore guard Johannes Herber has been named a third-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
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| West Virginia's Joe Herber has a perfect 4.0 grade point average in political science. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Herber, a native of Darmstadt, Germany, is the youngest student-athlete represented on any of the three teams. He carries a 4.0 GPA in political science.
"This is an amazing accomplishment given Joe's age and the obvious language barrier he's faced in his two years at West Virginia University," says WVU head coach John Beilein. "Joe is truly a special young man."
Joining Herber on the third team are Adam Baumann (Youngstown State, Sr.), Brody Deren (Creighton, Sr.), Craig Forth (Syracuse, Jr.) and Michael Lindeman (Creighton, Grad.).
Junior Emeka Okafor of Connecticut was tabbed Academic All-American of the Year. Joining Okafor on the first team are Adam Hess (William & Mary, Sr.), Chris Hill (Michigan State, Jr.), Michael Kuebler (Hawaii, Sr.) and Adam Mark (Belmont, Sr.).
Second-team selections are Clint Cuffle (Evansville, Sr.), Jason Parker (Tulsa, Sr.), Brett Starkey (Denver, Grad.), Blake Stepp (Gonzaga, Sr.) and Derek Winans (Southeast Missouri State, Jr.).
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average on 4.0 scale, be a starter or key reserve and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his institution.
Created in 1952 by CoSIDA, the Academic All-America teams program is the premier, nationwide college scholar-athlete awards program. It recognizes 816 student-athletes annually in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
Herber joins former Mountaineer Damian Owens as WVU Academic All-Americans for men's basketball. Owens was tabbed a second-team selection in 1998.
"I'm really excited and thankful for this award," says Herber. "It's rewarding and it tells me that I'm doing the right thing."
