UMBC men’s basketball team captain Joe Sherburne ‘18, financial economics, has nabbed top national honors as the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for Division I men’s basketball.
Sherburne earned his bachelor’s degree in three years, with a 4.0 GPA, and is now pursuing his master’s degree in data science. Throughout his UMBC career, he has continually played at a high level. He is ranked seventh in all-time scoring and fourth in minutes played per game for UMBC. This remarkable record and consistency on and off the court led the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to choose Sherburne for this high achievement.
“A lot of credit goes to my parents and the schools I grew up in, really attentive, good schools that I went to. You would not have expected a couple of years ago that a player from UMBC could get this award. If we didn’t have the success we’ve been having, this might not have happened, so there’s a big team aspect to this individual award,” says Sherburne.
In addition to his All-American of the Year accolade, Sherburne was also named to the America East All-Academic Team for the third time in his career and to the America East First Team for the first time. The Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin native is only the fourth Retriever to earn a spot on on the America East all-league team in the past 16 seasons.
“With the passion he brings on the court and the dedication he brings to the classroom, Joe truly serves as a role model for our university,” says President Freeman Hrabowski. “We’re so proud of how he represents UMBC and the leadership he’s brought to the team.”
America East also recognized the substantial contributions of two new additions to the Retriever team. Junior guard K.J. Jackson, sociology, was named to the America East Second Team and All-Defensive Team, while R.J. Eytle-Rock ‘22, psychology, was selected for the America East All-Rookie team.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment. Those out there that have been through all levels of education understand how hard it is,” says Coach Ryan Odom. “You add to it that he is a Division I athlete and his time is taken up with all kinds of weight training and practices, etc., to be that consistent is really impressive. It’s great recognition for Joe, we’re really proud of him.”
Legacy of excellence
These academic and athletic honors are nothing new for the teams of Retriever Nation. Closing the fall semester, scholar-athletes produced a department record GPA of 3.14, with ten teams achieving a 3.0 GPA or higher. Women’s volleyball and men’s lacrosse closed their 2018 seasons with 3.52 and 3.38 average GPAs respectively. More than 40 UMBC scholar-athletes achieved a perfect 4.0 average.
Looking ahead
This past weekend, a record high of nearly 3,000 spectators cheered on UMBC men’s basketball as the team defeated UAlbany in the America East quarter-final match-up. The Retrievers came into the contest seeded third to UAlbany’s No. 6. Arkel Lamar ‘20, sociology, Jackson, and freshman guard José Placer, all posted up double digits to contribute 32 out of UMBC’s 62 total points.
After this weekend’s contests, the bracket has been re-seeded and new matches have been set. Binghamton upset Stony Brook on Saturday, marking only the third time in America East history a No. 7 seed defeated a No. 2 seed in quarterfinals.
On the heels of Saturday’s win, UMBC advances to the semifinal contests and will host Hartford on March 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are now available online for both students and the general public.
Featured image: UMBC team captain Joe Sherburne during a game against Drexel. Photo by Ian Feldmann.
