CHICAGO (July 11, 2018) – In addition to its multitude of on-court achievements in 2017-18, the Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team added to its academic haul today. The Ramblers were one of 184 teams from across all divisions of college basketball, including one of 43 NCAA Division I programs, to earn a Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
 
In order to earn a NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, institutions in the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA must have a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.0 or higher for the 2017-18 season.
 
Loyola was one of two teams from this year's Final Four to earn the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, joining national champion Villanova. The Ramblers were also one of three programs from the Missouri Valley Conference to be recognized, along with Bradley and Southern Illinois.
 
Student-athletes at Loyola are among the brightest in the nation and the athletics department has posted the highest Graduation Success Rate score (99 percent) in the nation in each of the past two years. During the 2017-18 season, guard Clayton Custer (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest/Iowa State) was a CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection and backcourt mate Bruno Skokna (Zagreb, Croatia) earned the Elite 18 Award from the Missouri Valley Conference at the MVC Championship.
 
The Ramblers captured the hearts of the nation this season, rolling all the way through the NCAA tournament to the Final Four in their first NCAA appearance since 1985. Loyola posted a school-record 32 wins and finished the season ranked No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.