NEW YORK—The latest accolades for the academic achievement of Villanova student-athletes was announced on Monday afternoon as the BIG EAST Conference revealed the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for the 2023-24 academic year. Villanova Athletics earned a total of 390 selections to the conference All-Academic Team, an increase of just over 15 percent compared to a year earlier. This is the ninth consecutive year that more than 300 Wildcats student-athletes have been recognized. Villanova competes in the BIG EAST in 21 of its 24 varsity sports.
Nominations for the All-Academic Team are submitted by each of the BIG EAST's 11 member schools and six affiliate institutions. To be eligible for the 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 semesters of three consecutive quarters of academic work with a total of 18 semester or 27 quarter credits, not including remedial courses.
There are 3,150 honorees on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for the 2023-24 academic year. The total number of honorees is just over 100 more student-athletes compared 2022-23.
Monday's release was the latest in a series of conference academic honors which are being announced this summer. Last week the Villanova field hockey team was recognized with a BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Award for having the highest team GPA among the eight field hockey teams in the conference. Still to come later this week is the announcement of the BIG EAST individual Sport Excellence Award winners.
The dedication that Villanova student-athletes show to their academic pursuits has been well-recognized. In June, the Wildcats were one of only seven Division I athletics programs nationwide to have as many as 13 of its varsity sports earn a perfect score of 1000 in the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) metric.
Later the same month Villanova Athletics announced its academic data for the Spring 2024 semester, with student-athletes posting a 3.489 GPA for the most recent marking period. It marked the 13th straight semester in which the GPA for Wildcats student-athletes has topped 3.3. The department has also seen all 24 varsity sports post a team GPA above a 3.0 in each of the last five semesters.
