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Barret Benson named first-team MVC Scholar Athlete
03/05/2020 | 10:02:00 | Men's Basketball
Complete MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams
ST. LOUIS - SIU graduate center Barret Benson was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team, the league announced Thursday morning. Benson holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in his master's program.Â
Benson, who graduated from Northwestern in three years with a 3.63 GPA, was named first-team Academic All-District earlier this year and is eligible for Academic All-America honors, which will be announced March 9. Benson finished the regular season ranked 12th in the MVC in rebounding and ninth in blocked shots. He averaged 10.6 points on 51% shooting and 5.5 rebounds per game.Â
Benson, who was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection at Northwestern, helped lead SIU to 16 wins this season and 10 MVC wins, the most ever by a team picked last in the preseason MVC poll. He anchored an SIU defense that ranks in the top-15 nationally in scoring defense. A Willowbrook, Ill., native, Benson scored in double-figures 16 times this season, including two double-doubles.Â
SIU faces Bradley in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at Enterprise Center.
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (4.0 scale). Nominees in grad school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better both as an undergrad AND in graduate school. Nominees must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at an institution and must have completed at least one calendar year at the institution. True freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution. A nominee must have played in 50 percent of his team's games.Â
MVC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE FIRST TEAM (SIU Players)
Kent Williams, 2003
Jamaal Tatum, 2005
Jamaal Tatum, 2006
Jamaal Tatum, 2007
Bryan Mullins, 2007
Bryan Mullins, 2008
Anthony Beane Jr., 2014
Marcus Bartley, 2019
Barret Benson, 2020
Â
ST. LOUIS - SIU graduate center Barret Benson was named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team, the league announced Thursday morning. Benson holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in his master's program.Â
Benson, who graduated from Northwestern in three years with a 3.63 GPA, was named first-team Academic All-District earlier this year and is eligible for Academic All-America honors, which will be announced March 9. Benson finished the regular season ranked 12th in the MVC in rebounding and ninth in blocked shots. He averaged 10.6 points on 51% shooting and 5.5 rebounds per game.Â
Benson, who was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection at Northwestern, helped lead SIU to 16 wins this season and 10 MVC wins, the most ever by a team picked last in the preseason MVC poll. He anchored an SIU defense that ranks in the top-15 nationally in scoring defense. A Willowbrook, Ill., native, Benson scored in double-figures 16 times this season, including two double-doubles.Â
SIU faces Bradley in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at Enterprise Center.
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (4.0 scale). Nominees in grad school must have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better both as an undergrad AND in graduate school. Nominees must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at an institution and must have completed at least one calendar year at the institution. True freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution. A nominee must have played in 50 percent of his team's games.Â
MVC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE FIRST TEAM (SIU Players)
Kent Williams, 2003
Jamaal Tatum, 2005
Jamaal Tatum, 2006
Jamaal Tatum, 2007
Bryan Mullins, 2007
Bryan Mullins, 2008
Anthony Beane Jr., 2014
Marcus Bartley, 2019
Barret Benson, 2020
Â
Players Mentioned
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