LU basketball standout Chris Braier’s mantle has received a significant decorative upgrade in the past few weeks. Never mind the question of whether or not he has a mantle in his Sage quad, for that information is irrelevant. The good stuff is that, in addition to being named first-team All Midwest Conference last month, he recently received fourth-team All-American honors. The worm in the tequila bottle was, however, his selection to the 2004-05 MWC Winter Academic All-Conference Team.
Let’s pause for a moment and truly let this information sink in.
Although no empirical studies have been conducted on how frequently a basketball player of this caliber receives recognition in the world of academia, one must think that the probability gods aren’t shining down too brightly on his case.
To make the scenario even more eye-popping, three additional LU men’s basketball letter-winners were mentioned as classroom elites. Seniors Jason Holinbeck and Brett Sjoberg and junior Kyle MacGillis also garnered awards. With four recipients, the team had the highest number of awards for any men’s basketball team in the conference.
Hats off to Braier, Coach Tharp, and the rest of the team for an amazing season and hopefully more to come next year.