Siva Earns Academic All-America Honor

Cards' co-captain is just the second UofL men's basketball player to ever achieve the honor

TOWSON, Md. - University of Louisville senior guard Peyton Siva has been named to the 2012-13 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Men's Basketball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

A sociology major from Seattle, Wash., Siva is just the second Academic All-America selection ever for the UofL men's basketball program. Phillip Bond, who played at UofL from 1972-77 and helped the Cardinals reach the 1975 NCAA Final Four, achieved the prestigious national honor in 1975-76.

Siva, who was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 2 first team last month, earned second-team Academic All-America status. The first team includes Aaron Craft of Ohio State, Mason Plumlee of Duke, Matthew Sullivan of Brown, Kelly Olynyk of Gonzaga and Cody Zeller of Indiana.

Joining Siva on the second five-person team are Matthew Dellavedova of Saint Mary's, Ben Averkamp of Loyola (Ill.), Nathan Healy of Appalachian State and Andrew Smith of Butler.

The Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Men's Basketball third team includes Jordan Hulls of Indiana, Marc Trasolini of Santa Clara, Mathias Ward of Montana, Mike Muscala of Bucknell and Darren White of Campbell.

Siva, who has a 3.37 cumulative grade point average, was recently named UofL's American Eagle Outfitters Institutional Male Scholar-Athlete, as chosen by the BIG EAST Conference's Academic Affairs Committee.

The Cardinals' starting point guard is among the BIG EAST leaders in assists (6.1, third in the BIG EAST; 19th in the nation), free throw percentage (.877, second), steals (2.1, third; 44th in the nation) and assists-turnovers ratio (2.11, 8th).

He became the Cardinals' 64th career 1,000 point scorer (1,074 current total) this season and his 607 career assists rank second all-time at UofL. He is within a dozen steals of the career steals record currently held by Darrell Griffith.

Siva is one of 20 watch list finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the nation's top point guard, and is one of 10 finalists for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award. His preseason honors included first team All-America by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, second team All-America by ESPN.com, and third team All-America by The Sporting News. Siva received the 2011-12 BIG EAST Conference Scholar-Athlete Sports Excellence Award for men's basketball.

The next game Siva starts will be the 100th of his career at UofL. The 21-5 Cardinals will be back in action on Saturday (Feb. 23) against Seton Hall at noon in the KFC Yum! Center.