FGCU women’s basketball has ninth best GPA

The FGCU women’s basketball team added to its list of achievements from the 2014-15 season this week with a position among the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Team Honor Roll. The program finished the academic year with a cumulative grade point average of 3.552 to rank ninth among all NCAA Division I programs.

“I am really proud of our players’ academic performance,” said head coach Karl Smesko. “I appreciate the efforts of our players, our academic support staff and our assistants in helping us achieve this recognition”

Smesko’s squad earned the distinction for the fourth-consecutive year after gaining eligibility in 2011. The team ranked 11th last season and finished fourth in the nation with a 3.621 GPA during the 2012-13 campaign. In its first season of eligibility, the program finished ninth of the NCAA Division I’s 343 programs.

The academic honor complements another tremendous season for the program as the team capped off the 2014-15 season with its fifth-straight regular season title, a third Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and its third trip to the NCAA Tournament in four seasons. The Eagles earned a program-high no. 7 seed and picked up their first NCAA Division I Tournament win over Oklahoma State this season.

The Green and Blue finished the season with a record of 31-3 for the program’s third 30-win season and compiled a win streak of 26 games to rank third in the nation. FGCU also went undefeated in Atlantic Sun Conference play for the third time, winning all 14 regular season games. With the team’s success, the program earned its first-ever Division I national ranking, checking in at high as the No. 20 team and finishing the season at No. 21.

Led by the six-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year, FGCU secured its 11th-straight 21+ win season and participated in its eighth Division I postseason tournament in as many years.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City led all NCAA Division I programs with a 3.728 GPA for the second-straight season, while St. Francis College, DePaul, Drake and Bowling Green rounded out the top five. The team is one of seven NCAA Tournament teams from 2015 in the top-25 and joins St. Francis, DePaul and Arizona State as Tournament teams in the top-10.

Rank Institution Head Coach Team GPA
1 University of Missouri-Kansas City Marsha Frese 3.726
2 St. Francis College John Thurson 3.656
3 DePaul University Doug Bruno 3.622
4 Drake University Jennie Baranczyk 3.599
5 Bowling Green State University Jennifer Roos 3.594
6 Saint Louis University Lisa Stone 3.564
7 Arizona State University Charli Turner Thorne 3.558
8 Eastern Washington University Wendy Schuller 3.554
9 FGCU Karl Smesko 3.552
T10 Western Illinois University JD Gravina 3.530
T10 University of Wisconsin, Green Bay Kevin Borseth 3.530
12 University of Northern Iowa Tanya Warren 3.519
13 University of North Dakota J. Travis Brewster 3.517
14 Jacksonville State University Rick Pietri 3.511
15 Belmont University Cameron Newbauer 3.501
16 Northwestern State University Brooke Stoehr 3.461
17 Houston Baptist University Donna Finnie 3.445
18 University of Toledo Tricia Cullop 3.443
19 Northern Illinois University Kathi Bennett 3.438
20 University of Northern Colorado Kamie Ethridge 3.431
21 South Dakota State University Aaron Johnston 3.427
22 Youngstown State University John Barnes 3.422
23 St. Bonaventure University Jim Crowley 3.406
24 University of Maine Richard Barron 3.399
25 Lehigh University Susan Troyan 3.396