TOLEDO, Ohio - Toledo has received the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award, the association announced on Wednesday. The award is in its fifth year of existence, and the Rockets have received the award in three of the last four years. UT was one of just two Mid-American Conference schools to be honored this year and is one of 12 schools to achieve this accomplishment on three occasions in the last four years.
 
     The Team Academic Excellence Award recognizes NCAA and NAIA men's basketball teams that earned a cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.0 or better throughout the 2016-17 academic year. Fifty-one of the 211 teams to make the list were NCAA Division I-affiliated programs.
 
     The Rockets posted a 3.108 GPA throughout the last two semesters with Luke Knapke, Jordan Lauf, Nate Navigato and Jaelan Sanford earning spots on the MAC's Academic All-MAC team.
 
     Earlier this spring, the NCAA announced that the Rockets' Academic Progress Rate score from the four-year period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 was 990, a figure that ranks among the Top 10 Percent nationally and sits atop the MAC.
 
     Other NCAA Division I schools posting a 3.0 GPA in the 2016-17 academic year were Albany, Belmont, Boise State, Bradley, Brigham Young, Butler, Central Michigan, College of William & Mary, Columbia, DePaul, Drake, Eastern Washington, Elon, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Fordham, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Hartford, Harvard, High Point, Idaho State, Illinois, IUPUI, Kansas, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Louisville, Mercer, Milwaukee, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina-Asheville, North Dakota State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Oregon State, Princeton, Purdue, Rice, Stanford, Texas A&M, Texas State, Utah Valley, West Virginia, Yale and Youngstown State.