Boydell Earns Academic All-District Honors for Second Consecutive Season

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Jack Boydell (Grad., W, Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley HS) from the Willamette University men's basketball team has been named to the 2023-24 NCAA Division III Academic All-District Men's Basketball Team, as chosen by the College Sports Communicators.

A panel of CSC members will determine which Academic All-District honorees are eligible to be voted onto the NCAA Division III Academic All-America Men's Basketball Team. The Academic All-America Team will be released on Wednesday, April 17. Players nominated for the CSC All-District Team were starters or key reserves with cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. They played in 90% of their team's games or started at least 66% of the games. Each nominated student-athlete was at least a sophomore in academic and athletic standing.

Willamette achieved a 14-10 record during the 2023-24 season, including a 9-7 mark in the Northwest Conference (3rd place tie). It was the Bearcats first year under Head Coach Michael Lenahan. Although WU tied for third place in the NWC standings, the Bearcats missed qualifying for the four-team NWC Men's Basketball Tournament on a tie-breaker.

The winning record is the first by Willamette since going 12-11 in 2008-09. WU registered its first NWC record above .500 since 9-7 in 2007-08. The team averaged 86.8 points per game to lead the NWC (10th in NCAA Division III). The Bearcats were 37th in the NCAA in steals per game (9.4), 38th in rebounds per game, and 39th in free throw percentage.

NCAA Division III Academic All-District

Jack Boydell (Grad., Wing) received CSC Academic All-District recognition for the second year in a row. In 2022-23, he was later chosen CSC Second Team Academic All-America for NCAA Division III. Boydell received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Data Science in 2023. He is completing a Master of Business Administration this year as part of Willamette's 3+2 BA/MBA program. He earned a 3.96 cumulative grade point average as an undergraduate and he owns a 4.00 GPA as a graduate student.

This season, Boydell ranked second for the Bearcats with 13.9 points per game. He hit 48 of 121 three-pointers for 39.7% and connected on 63 of 71 free throws for a school record 88.7%. He led the NWC in free throw percentage, tied for third in 3-pointers made per game (2.1) and tied for third in 3-point percentage. He was chosen Honorable Mention All-NWC in 2022-23 and 2023-24

Boydell finished his Willamette career on ninth place on the Bearcats' career scoring list with 1,389 points in 100 games (13.9 career avg.). He set career school records for 3-pointers made (182) and attempted (521). He ranks second all-time at WU in career free throw percentage at 84.0% (215 of 256).

In addition to his academic honors from the CSC, Boydell was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court in 2022-23 and he is eligible to be chosen for the honors court in 2023-24. He was inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma, the national student-athlete honorary society, in 2021-22, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2023.