@SunDevilWBB Earns No. 17 Ranking in WBCA Academic Top 25

TEMPE, Ariz. – Sun Devil Women's Basketball continued to be among the nation's top women's basketball squads in the classroom according to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) annual Academic Team Honor Roll, announced by the WBCA announced on Tuesday. With a final team GPA of 3.645 for the 2020-21 academic year, head coach Charli Turner Thorne's squad finished 17th in the nation among Division I institutions and had the highest team GPA in the Pac-12.
 
The WBCA Academic Top 25 recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and two-year college women's basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2020-21 season is the 26th in which the WBCA has compiled the honor rolls.
 
Since Turner Thorne took over as head coach in 1996-97, the Sun Devil women's basketball program has been replete with stories of high academic achievement. From 1997-2019, the Sun Devils led the Pac-12 in the number of first-team All-Academic conference awards (22) and the combined number of first- and second-team All-Academic conference awards (46). In 2018 the Sun Devils matched the school record with eight student-athletes named to the Pac-12's All-Academic Teams.
 
The Pac-12's way recognizing individual academic achievement changed prior to the 2019-20 season with all qualifying players –a student-athlete on their respective team roster with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.3-or-above, and who has served at least one year in residence at the institution – with an Academic Honor Roll. The Sun Devils have combined for 11 of those awards over the last two seasons.
 
In 2017, ASU's No. 5 finish in the 2016-17 WBCA rankings represented the second time in three seasons the Sun Devils were among the top 10 programs in the country after placing seventh (3.558) for the 2014-15 academic year. In 2016-17 ASU was one of only seven teams around the country to be included in the WBCA's Top 25 and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. 
 
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