Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

2019-2020 NABC Honors Court
2019-2020 NABC Team Academic Excellence Awards

July 16, 2020 - North Central College men's basketball players Matt Cappelletti, Matthew Helwig, Michael Pollack and Matt Smietanski have been recognized with selections to the National Association of Basketball Coaches' (NABC) Honors Court, in recognition of excellence in academics, marking the Cardinals' largest representation on the list of honorees since the award's inception. 

The Honors Court consists of varsity student-athletes who have maintained at least a 3.2 grade-point average and achieved junior or senior academic standing. Cappelletti and Pollack are second-year recipients of the award.

Cappelletti, a recent graduate with a double major in management and physics, started 27 of North Central's 28 games this season and earned First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) and D3hoops.com All-Central Region accolades. He ranked third in the CCIW in field-goal percentage (.507), fifth in rebounds per game (7.3) and 12th in points per game (13.7). He ranks fifth in the Cardinals' history in career three-point shots made (161), ninth in rebounds (695) and 16th in scoring (1,253).

Helwig, a sport management major, started 21 of 26 games for North Central this season and contributed 8.5 points per game on 52.4 percent shooting. He ranked third in the CCIW in three-point field goal percentage (.429). Pollack is a chemistry major and Air Force ROTC student at North Central. He appeared in all 28 of the Cardinals' games, putting up 8.3 points per game and leading the CCIW in three-point percentage (.453). Pollack was named one of North Central's two CCIW Jack Swartz Academic All-Conference award winners for the winter season. Smietanski, an accounting major, appeared in 16 games for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals are one of four CCIW teams to qualify for the NABC's Team Academic Excellence Award, presented to teams which achieve a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. Carthage College, Illinois Wesleyan University and Wheaton College also qualified for this year's honor.

A total of 18 CCIW representatives appear on this year's Honors Court. North Central players have earned 15 Honors Court selections since the program's introduction in 2012. Click HERE to see a list of previous honorees.

North Central's head coach, Todd Raridon, was also recently honored as one of 10 College Coach of the Year honorees by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA). Raridon joins Brad Underwood (University of Illinois), Brian Wardell (Bradley University), Keith Bunkenburg (Benedictine University), John Baines (Elmhurst University), Nick Birkey (Olivet Nazarene University), Pat Lepper (Lincoln College), Kyle Smithpeters (John A. Logan College), John Pigatti (South Suburban College) and Anthony Figueroa (Parkland College) on the list of this year's winners, who will be formally recognized at the IBCA's Banquet on Sept. 5.

The Cardinals finished the 2019-2020 campaign with a 23-5 overall record, matching the second-highest single-season win total in the program's history. North Central went 14-2 in conference play, winning its first CCIW regular-season championship since 2012, and advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III Championship.