CLEVELAND, Ohio – Three Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball student-athletes have been named to the 10-person 2010 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team.  Bradley's Sam Maniscalco, Drake's Adam Templeton and Wichita State's Graham Hatch represent the MVC.

Bradley University is one of two schools (LaSalle is the other) to place both a male and a female on the teams as Maniscalco is joined by women’s basketball senior forward Jenny Van Kirk (Waconia, Minn./Waconia H.S.) each earned a spot on their gender’s 10-person Scholar-Athlete Team announced by DI-AAA ADA Wednesday morning.

Maniscalco was a first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference scholar-athlete selection this year after averaging 13.1 points and 3.4 assists per game and he has climbed to 30th on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,152 career points.  Boasting a 3.38 cumulative grade point average as a sports communications major, Maniscalco also was selected a first-team Valley Scholar-Athlete.

Hatch, a junior from Wichita State, holds a 3.70 cumulative GPA in chemistry and was a first-team all-MVC scholar-athlete pick, and a third-team 2010 ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-American.  He also earned a spot on the league's six-person "Most-Improved" Team.  Hatch helped the Shockers to a 25-win season, which included an NIT berth and second-place finish in the MVC.  He was fourth on the squad with a 9.2 points per game average.

Adam Templeton of Drake was also a member of the league's first-team scholar-athlete team, and joined Hatch on the league's Most-Improved unit.  He was third for the Bulldogs in scoring, averaging 9.8 points per game, while starting all 33 contests for Drake - the only player on the team to do so.  He was the team's top rebounder (7.4 per game), which ranked second in the Valley.

The 2010 Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Teams are available for viewing online by clicking here

“On behalf of the Division I-AAA ADA, I want to extend my congratulations to the student-athletes for their outstanding academic and athletic achievements,” stated Tim Hall, chair of the Division I-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team Selection Committee and athletics director at the University of Missouri Kansas City.  “They model the phrase student-athlete at the highest level.  We share the joy of acknowledging their momentous accomplishments.”

Basketball players from all Division I-AAA ADA member institutions are eligible for the Scholar-Athlete Team.  Each nominee was required to have a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale) in undergraduate study and have been a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletics credentials.  Nominees also must have reached junior athletics and academic standing at the nominating institution, have completed at least three academic semesters/five quarters at the nominating institution (true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and ineligible athletics transfers were not eligible) and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games.

Now in its ninth year, the Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Associations’ mission is to enhance initiatives common to all Division I-AAA membership (the 95 NCAA Division I institutions that do not sponsor football), in particular, aspects related to their flagship basketball programs.