NEW YORK--A record-setting year of academic success for Wildcats student-athletes continued to receive its due recognition on Thursday afternoon when the BIG EAST announced its All-Academic Team for the 2015-16 school year. Villanova led all conference schools with a total of 302 selections to the All-Academic Team. That number is also the most ever in a single academic year for the Wildcats, who have earned a number of academic awards since the end of the academic year.

Nominations for the All-Academic Team are submitted by each of the BIG EAST's 10 member and seven affiliate institutions. To be eligible for this honor, a nominee must have competed in a BIG EAST-sponsored sport, attained a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for the preceding academic year, and completed a minimum of two consecutive semester of three consecutive quarters of academic work, with a total of 18 semester or 27 quarter credits, not including remedial courses. The nominations are reviewed and approved by the BIG EAST Academic Affairs Committee.

There are 2,333 honorees for the 2015-16 academic year, the most in the three years since conference realignment. The BIG EAST honored 2,091 in 2013-14 and 2,197 in 2014-15. Villanova's 302 selections to the 2015-16 All-Academic Team surpassed the total of 288 for Georgetown, which had led the league for the past two years.

Villanova student-athletes as a group have maintained a grade-point average higher than a 3.0 for 26 consecutive semesters. During the Spring 2016 semester, all 24 of the Wildcats varsity sports programs tallied a GPA higher than a 3.0 for the first time ever. More than 77 percent of Villanova's total of 555 student-athletes achieved a GPA higher than a 3.0 for the Spring 2016 term, with 15 student-athletes representing nine sports posting a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Earlier this summer, men's basketball player Ryan Arcidiacono and men's cross country athlete Patrick Tiernan were named the winners of BIG EAST Sport Excellence Awards for their respective sports. In addition, Tiernan and women's cross country/track & field athlete Angel Piccirillo were chosen as Villanova's institutional recipients of a BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Award, which comes with a $2,000 stipend that can be applied to postgraduate studies.

Back in April, the Wildcats had a record 13 teams earn public recognition for ranking in the top 10 percent of their sport nationwide for multiyear Academic Progress Rates (APR). Villanova was one of only seven schools who play FCS football to have both its football and men's basketball programs earn public recognition awards.

In addition to the student-athletes named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team, the Wildcats previously had 42 football players and one rower named to the CAA All-Academic Team, as well as 12 student-athletes from the water polo squad named to the MAAC All-Academic Team.