CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bradley University is one of two schools to place both a male and a female on the 2010 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Teams. Men's basketball junior guard Sam Maniscalco (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick H.S.) and women's basketball senior forward Jenny Van Kirk (Waconia, Minn./Waconia H.S.) each earned a spot on their gender's 10-person Scholar-Athlete Team announced by DI-AAA ADA Wednesday morning.
Bradley and LaSalle were the only two institutions among the 95 NCAA Division I schools that do not sponsor football to place both a male and a female on the 2010 Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Teams. While Maniscalco becomes the first Bradley men's basketball player to earn the distinction, Van Kirk is a repeat selection and has earned the fifth Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team award for the Bradley women's basketball program since 2002. Bradley now boasts 39 Academic All-America and National Scholar-Athlete Team awards since 1995.
Maniscalco was a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection this year after averaging 13.1 points and 3.4 assists per game and he has climbed to 30th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,152 career points. Boasting a 3.38 cumulative grade point average as a sports communications major, Maniscalco also was selected a first-team Valley Scholar-Athlete.
The only Bradley women's basketball player to start all 31 games this past season, Van Kirk averaged 6.3 points and 5.0 rebounds while helping the Braves to their first-ever postseason tournament, a second-round showing in the Women's Basketball Invitational. Sporting a perfect 4.0 GPA in an individualized major program geared toward medical school preparation, Van Kirk also was a candidate for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and earned first-team status on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District V and MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams.
The 2010 Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Teams are available for viewing online at: http://www.nacda.com/sports/div1aaaada/spec-rel/040710aaa.html.
"On behalf of the Division I-AAA ADA, I want to extend my congratulations to the student-athletes for their outstanding academic and athletic achievements," stated Tim Hall, chair of the Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team Selection Committee and athletics director at the University of Missouri Kansas City. "They model the phrase student-athlete at the highest level. We share the joy of acknowledging their momentous accomplishments."
Basketball players from all Division I-AAA ADA member institutions are eligible for the Scholar-Athlete Team. Each nominee was required to have a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale) in undergraduate study and have been a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletics credentials. Nominees also must have reached junior athletics and academic standing at the nominating institution, have completed at least three academic semesters/five quarters at the nominating institution (true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and ineligible athletics transfers were not eligible) and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games.
Now in its ninth year, the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Associations' mission is to enhance initiatives common to all Division I-AAA membership (the 95 NCAA Division I institutions that do not sponsor football), in particular, aspects related to their flagship basketball programs.
