Junior guard Brad Karp from the Saint Xavier University men’s basketball team has been named the winner of the Capital One Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year award after the announcement was made on Monday, February 18, by the national office.
Karp is the first player in SXU history to be given this honor after receiving a spot on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® College Division Second Team as a sophomore last year.
The award was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and it features students from the NAIA Division I and Division II league as well as Canadian and two-year schools. 15 finalists are all up for the Team Member of the Year award and one is chosen as the winner and the 14 other finalists earn a spot on the first, second or third team.
“It is extremely humbling to win this award and be the first in school history to win the award,” said Karp. “I know that the award is supposed to be an individual award, but I truly believe the award goes to the team.”
“There are a lot of things that go into the award, but without my teammates and coaches I would not have been able to receive such an award. It is nice to see all the sacrifices and hard work made in the classroom and on the court pay off.”
Karp, a native of Valparaiso, Ind., is leading the Cougars with nearly a double-double this season with 21.8 points per game and rebounding at 9.0 per game.
Karp has one more award to add to his already impressive list as he was named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) player of the year and he has also won conference player of the week honors seven times this season.
Saint Xavier fell just short of winning the CCAC Tournament Championship, but finishing in second place in conference and ending the tournament as runner-up, SXU still earns a bid to Nationals. The Cougars will find out the pairings for the 2013 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championships on Wednesday, February 27, around 7 p.m.
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. For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
Greg Pilafas
Deputy Editor in Chief