DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced that the Bethune-Cookman University Men’s Basketball Team has been recognized in its fourth annual Team Academic Excellence Awards, created by the NABC Committee on Academics.

These awards recognize outstanding academic achievement by a team with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better for the 2015-16 season. In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA Division I and II, must count the grade point averages of all men’s student-athletes who competed during the 2015-16 season.

Bethune-Cookman was one of 130 teams recognized. On Tuesday, senior Josue Salaam was named to the NABC Honors Court for a having a GPA of 3.2 or higher.

In Gravelle Craig’s five seasons as Head Coach, the men’s basketball program has produced 19 Bachelor’s Degree award winners as well as five Master’s Degree recipients, including Craig himself. Four players – Denzel Dulin, Ricky Johnson, Mario Moody and LaRon Smith – earned their degrees last season.

“I’m very proud of this achievement because it shows that the players have bought in and are committed to getting the job done in the classroom,” Craig said. “I want this recognition to become a regular occurrence and I’m confident that our team can raise its overall GPA even higher and produce Honors graduates.

“Also, our Assistant Athletic Director/Student-Athlete Support [Dr. Ernie Fingers] and our team adviser Brandon Fairley have done a great job in monitoring our student athletes the past couple seasons,” Craig added. “At the end of the day this is what it’s about.”