Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Valparaiso’s Jake Diebler (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) and Samuel Haanpää (Kerava, Finland/Cornerstone [Texas] Christian) have both been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court.

The Honors Court is set up to recognize those collegiate basketball student-athletes who also excel in the academic realm.  To qualify for the Honors Court, players must be at least a junior academically and own a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.20.

Diebler, who will be a senior this season, carries a 3.57 GPA as a marketing major.  He was a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll last year and was named the league’s U.S. Army Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Dec. 11.  On the court, Diebler started all 36 games at guard for the Crusaders and finished second in the league with a 2.71 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Haanpää, who is entering his junior campaign, owns a 3.63 GPA as an international business major.  The Horizon League U.S. Army Scholar-Athlete of the Month for December, as well as Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Dec. 18, Haanpää was a member of the league’s men’s basketball All-Academic Team and also was named to the league’s Academic Honor Roll last year.  On the court, Haanpää is Valpo’s all-time leader in 3-point percentage and connected on 43.0% (58-of-135) of his attempts from behind the arc last year while averaging 10.0 points per game.