The 2023-24 Duke Blue Devils ended their season just a game shy of the Final Four, but they also took care of business in the classroom. Today, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced its academic awards, and Duke Men’s Basketball earned a special award for their academic success.

Duke Men’s Basketball received the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award. A team is eligible if they have a team GPA of at least 3.0 for the academic year. The 2023-24 Duke Blue Devils had a 3.31 team GPA, with eight players making the All-ACC Academic Team: Jaylen Blakes, Ryan Young, Kyle Filipowski, Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, TJ Power, Tyrese Proctor and Sean Stewart. Duke’s 8 honorees was best in the conference.

Duke joined Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Virginia Tech as ACC schools receiving the Team Academic Excellence Award from the NABC.

In addition to the Team Academic Excellence Award, several Duke players were honored for their individual success in the classroom. Neal Begovich, Jaylen Blakes, Stanley Borden, Spencer Hubbard and Ryan Young were all named to the 2023-24 NABC Academic Honors Court. To be eligible for the Academic Honors Court, student-athletes must be academically a junior, senior, or graduate student, a varsity athlete, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2. It’s rare for a team to have five players made the Academic Honors Court, and it led to more team honors for Duke as well.

It’s always amazing to see Duke do well on the court, but it’s even better to see the players do well in the classroom, setting themselves up for life after basketball. It’s a clear focus for head coach Jon Scheyer, as his first two teams have had incredible academic success on top of the wins on the court. It’s also a testament to the support staff that Duke utilizes for its student-athletes to take care of business, and everyone from the tutors to the team managers share in the success. The hope is that the 2024-25 Duke Blue Devils can build upon the academic successes from last year’s team.