July 26, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its 2005-2006 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and Junior College/Community College. The awards recognize teams throughout the nation that have the highest grade point averages (GPA) for the 2005-2006 season based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member coaches. The University of New Mexico finished sixth, which is the highest finish in school history.
“I am very pleased with being ranked sixth in the country in the WBCA team honor roll,” Flanagan said. “It shows all the hardwork and dedication by our players, coaches and academic staff to being successful in the classroom .”
This is the second consecutive year the Lobos have cracked the top-25 honor roll, as they finished 12th last season. UNM was not only successful in the classroom but on the basketball floor as well. New Mexico went 22-10 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history.
GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution’s roster in the given academic terms by the total number of hours earned by the team. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point.
The WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I is as follows:
Rank, School, 2005-2006 Head Coach, Team GPA
1. South Dakota State, Aaron Johnston, 3.730
2. Indiana State University, Jim Wiedie, 3.612
3. Eastern Washington University, Wendy Schuller, 3.474
4. Valparaiso University, Keith Freeman, 3.468
5. Montana State – Bozeman, Tricia Binford, 3.459
6. University of New Mexico, Don Flanagan, 3.424
7. Oakland University, Beckie Francis, 3.402
8. University of Northern Iowa, Tony DiCecco, 3.399
9. Northern Arizona University, Laurie Kelly, 3.364
10. Univ. of Wisconsin – Green Bay, Kevin Borseth, 3.362
11. DePaul University, Doug Bruno, 3.361
12. Canisius College, Terrence Zeh, 3.344
13. University of Denver, Pamela Tanner, 3.343
T14. Lehigh University, Susan Troyan, 3.338
T14. Liberty University, Carey Green, 3.338
16. University of Central Florida, Gail Striegler, 3.335
17. Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, Robert Robinson, 3.330
18. Dartmouth College, Christina Wielgus, 3.323
19. University of Oklahoma, Sherri Coale, 3.315
20. Saint Bonaventure University, Jim Crowley, 3.307
21 Long Island University, Stephanie Gaitley, 3.301
22. Villanova University, Harry Perretta, 3.300
23. University of Florida, Carolyn Peck, 3.299
T24. Bradley University, Paula Buscher, 3.298
T24. Fairleigh Dickinson University, Sandy Gordon, 3.298