NABC Academic Awards
 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Three Bears earned a spot on the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court, while the men's basketball program received a Team Academic Excellence Award for the eighth consecutive season.
 
 

Recent graduate Nick Nocito along with rising seniors Luke Nieman and Patrick Downes represented the Bears on the Honors Court.
 
 

The Team Academic Excellence Award is reserved for programs with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or better. The Bears achieved a 3.51 team GPA for the 2025-26 academic year.
 
 

Nocito repeated the honor from last season while Nieman and Downes earned it for the first time in their respective careers. The honor rewards juniors, seniors, and graduate students with a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better at the end of the academic year.
 
 

A health and exercise physiology graduate, Nocito finished off a tremendous career in Collegeville by being named an All-Centennial Conference Second team selection. He once again led the Centennial Conference in assists per game at 5.6 and ranked third on the team in scoring at 11.5 points per game. Nocito tied for the team lead and sixth in the Centennial with 1.7 steals per game and shot 46.3 percent from the field. Nocito eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark on January 31st and recorded 3.8 rebounds per game. He earned his third straight CSC Academic All-District selection along with selections to the Academic All-Centennial and Centennial Academic Honor Roll teams.
 
 
 

A health and exercise physiology major, Nieman was just off his career-high in points as he averaged 8.9 points per game that ranked fourth on the team. He led the team and ranked second in the Centennial Conference with 59 three-pointers and second with a 39.1 three-point field goal percentage. Nieman led the Centennial Conference at 2.2 three-point field goals made per game and recorded a career-high of 24 points in a win over Widener. He earned a spot as well on the CSC Academic All-District team.
 
 
 

A business economics major, Downes appeared in eight games for the Bears during the 2025-26 season in a reserve role. He tallied 10 rebounds, two points, one assist, and one block in those games.
 
 

"College basketball student-athletes do incredible things on the court, but their achievements in the classroom are equally worthy of celebration," said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. "Education is one of the NABC's core values, and the hundreds of programs and thousands of athletes represented on these awards reinforce the commitment to academic success that exists across all levels of our sport."
 
 
Over 2,300 players earned spots on the NABC Honors Court and nearly 400 programs received NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards for 2025-26