KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bates men's basketball was honored with a 2025-26 Team Academic Excellence Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and six Bobcats were named to the NABC Honors Court on Wednesday, representing outstanding achievement in the classroom by collegiate men's basketball teams and student-athletes.

The NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards recognize men's basketball programs that completed the 2025-26 academic year with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Meanwhile, the NABC Honors Court includes junior, senior, and graduate student men's basketball players who finished the 2025-26 year with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher.

Economics major and team captain Elliott Cravitz '26 (Denver, Colo.), interdisciplinary studies major Aydan Gedeon-Hope '26 (Norton, Mass.), biology major Ben Leach '27 (Atlanta, Ga.), sociology major Chiwer Mayen '26 (Jackson, Miss.), economics major Babacar Pouye '27 (Carpinteria, Calif.), and economics major Peter Psyhogeos '26 (Yarmouth, Maine) all earned spots on the NABC Honors Court for their work in the classroom.

This is the second time that Cravitz, Gedeon-Hope, Mayen, and Psyhogeos have been named to the Honors Court.

"College basketball student-athletes do incredible things on the court, but their achievements in the classroom are equally worthy of celebration," NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson said. "Education is one of the NABC's core values, and the hundreds of programs and thousands of athletes represented on these awards reinforce the commitment to academic success that exists across all levels of our sport."

Bates men's basketball had one of their best seasons in program history on the court as well, going 18-9 in 2025-26 and making the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament for the first time since 2014-15.