BOULDER, Colo. – Washington State University men's basketball junior Josh Hawkinson has been named to the 2015-16 College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 8 Men's Basketball Team, the organization announced Thursday.
The award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performance athletically and in the classroom. Hawkinson is the first Cougar to be named first team all-district since both Daven Harmeling and Taylor Rochestie picked up the honor in 2008-09. He's also just one of two Pac-12 student-athletes to be named to one of the eight district teams. He is now one of 40 Division I men's basketball student-athletes eligible for first-team, second-team and/or third-team Academic All-America honors, which will be announced later in February.
Hawkinson has a 3.30 grade point average and is majoring in business. He has started 20 of the 21 games he's played this season, having missed two games with injuries. He's leading the team and Pac-12, while ranking 11th in the nation with 11.0 rebounds per game. He is also leading the team with 15.9 points per game, ranking 14th in the Pac-12. Hawkinson also leads the league in defensive rebounds per game and double-doubles, ranking second and sixth in the nation, respectively.
A native of Shoreline, Wash., Hawkinson was named a 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award finalist, as he currently ranks in WSU's career record books for rebounds (12th), double-doubles (third) and blocked shots (17th).
This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA recognizes four teams - NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-District™ Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools. Previously, CoSIDA recognized a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I); with the four teams, CoSIDA has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored.
The Division II and Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.
For more information about the Academic All-District™ and Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
The Cougars take on Colorado at Boulder, Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT.
District 8 Winners - NCAA Division I
Josh Hawkinson, Washington State (Jr., Shoreline, Wash., 3.30 – Business)
Joshua Braun, Grand Canyon (Sr., Anthem, Ariz., 3.83 – Business Management)
Domantas Sabonis, Gonzaga (So., Kaunas, Lituania, 3.46 – Sport Management)
Casey Benson, Oregon (So., Tempe, Ariz., 3.47 – Journalism)
Venky Jois, Eastern Washington (Sr., Boronia, Australia, 3.49 – Pre-Med/Interdisciplinary Studies)
