Watch CBS News

UNC's Beitzel Selected As School's 2nd-Ever Academic All-American

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - The University of Northern Colorado has announced basketball player Devon Beitzel has been selected as just the second Academic All-American in Northern Colorado men's basketball history and the first in more than 40 years.

"He was one of five NCAA student-athletes named Tuesday to the 2010-11 Capital One Academic All-America Men's Basketball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)," UNC said in a prepared statement. "He joins former Bear Dennis Colson (1967) as the only two men's basketball players in school history to be considered in the national student-athlete elite."

Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill said Beitzel "is in the top three of the toughest kids I've ever been around."

Beitzel joins Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis, Butler's Matt Howard, Kansas' Tyrell Reed and North Carolina's Tyler Zeller on the First Team.

Beitzel is the leading scorer in the Big Sky Conference this season at 20.3 points per game, and he's 10th in the nation with a .910 free throw percentage.

He's a finance and accounting major with a 3.69 GPA.

Beitzel played high school basketball for Centaurus High School in Lafayette.

Read the entire UNC news release about Devon Beitzel

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.