Drew Crawford became the fourth member of Northwestern men’s basketball program history Thursday to be named to the Capital One Academic All-American First Team.
Recipients of the award, who are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, must hold a 3.30 cumulative grade point average and have started at least 50 percent of their team’s games at their listed position. As a graduate student in the School of Continuing Studies, Crawford has a 3.9 grade point average.
Thursday’s honor is Crawford’s second Academic All-American award. As a junior, he was named to the Second Team.
Crawford came back to NU for his fifth year of eligibility to play for coach Chris Collins, under whom the forward has played an up-and-down season. Crawford notched a season-high 30 points in NU’s upset against then-No.13 Wisconsin on Jan. 29, the second of the Wildcats’ three-game stretch of road wins.
After the Wisconsin win came a 17-point game in a victory against Minnesota on Feb. 1 and a Big Ten Co-Player of the Week recognition.
That same week, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association honored Crawford as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week.
The graduate student has also had his share of flubs in the final year of his college career. He scored only 6 points on 1-8 shooting in a loss to then-No. 4 Michigan State and fared even worse against Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan. Crawford ended Sunday’s game with 2 points on 1-15 shooting.
Tumultuous season aside, Crawford is consistently recognized as a vital part of the Cats’ attack. Not only does Crawford provide critical leadership to a relatively young team trying to find its identity under a new coach, but the team also often depends on Crawford to salvage a struggling offense.
The forward leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game.
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