Feb. 22, 2011
Center Valley, Pa. - Army senior Nathan Hedgecock has been named to the Capital One Academic All-America Men's Basketball Second Team as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), it was announced on Tuesday.
The El Paso, Texas, native is the first Patriot League men's basketball student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA since Bucknell's Valter Karavanic earned a second consecutive selection in 2000. Hedgecock becomes the fifth Patriot League student-athlete to receive the distinction, following Holy Cross' Jim Nairus (1991, 1st team), Bucknell's Patrick King (1992, 2nd), Colgate's Adonal Foyle (1996, 2nd/1997, 1st) and Karavanic (1999, 1st/2000, 2nd).
Hedgecock boasts a 4.00 grade-point average as a mechanical engineering management major at West Point. In addition to his success in the classroom, the three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection serves as the Deputy Brigade Commander, the second-highest position in the cadet chain of command of the United States Corps of Cadets.
Hedgecock has played in 22 games this season, including seven starts as Army's center despite standing only 6-foot02. He is averaging 4.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, and leads the team in three-point field goal percentage with a 44.8 percent accuracy rate (13-29).
Hedgecock has scored in double figures four times in the last 10 games, and owns a career-high six double-digit efforts this season. He has posted single-season career bests in minutes played, field goals, free throws, rebounds, assists, steals and points. For his career, Hedgecock has played in 69 games, making 16 appearances with the first unit.
One of three seniors on the Black Knights' roster, Hedgecock is the first Army men's basketball player to earn Academic All-America status since Steve Rothert in 1989. Including Hedgecock, four Army players have earned All-America accolades a total of five times.
The Patriot League men's basketball schedule is in the final week of the regular season, with Army at Lafayette, Holy Cross at Colgate and Lehigh at Bucknell at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Navy at American tipping off at 7:30 p.m.