Until yesterday, no player in Cornell men’s basketball history had ever been named a first-team Academic All-American. That changed when senior tri-captain Graham Dow was awarded a spot on the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA squad.
“Obviously, it’s a special honor,” Dow said. “For me, to be recognized as an athlete and a student is amazing.”
[img_assist|nid=21783|title=Dow right now|desc=Senior Graham Dow (3), who was named first-team Academic All-American, drives to the hoop during Cornell’s 57-50 win over Princeton on Feb. 16.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=85]
Dow becomes the second Red player honored in as many years, joining Lenny Collins ’06, who made the third team a year ago. Before Dow, the Ivy League had not placed a player on the first team since Dartmouth’s Seamus Lonergan in 1996. Overall, Dow is the 12th player from the Ancient Eight to be honored with this distinction.
Dow, who hails from Burlington, Ontario, has started 22 games this season for the Red (15-11, 8-4 Ivy) and leads the team with 4.1 assists per game, good for second in the Ivy League. Additionally, Dow averages 5.7 points and 1.6 steals each game. A four-year contributor and participant in over 100 games in a Cornell uniform, Dow is currently third on the Red’s career steals list with 163.
“I get a lot of personal gratification for an award like this,” Dow said. “But most of the satisfaction comes from what we have accomplished as a team. Being a part of this for four years with my best friends has been unbelievable. It is something I really value.”
Earlier this season, Dow was named to the all-district team before yesterday’s honor. Perhaps more so than the court, the classroom has given Dow the chance to really rack up his stats as he has received an overall GPA of 3.99 during his first seven semesters as an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major.
“I have been getting burned by that [other .01] on my GPA,” Dow said of his almost perfect GPA. “I guess I am going to have to step up my game [this last semester].”
Joining Dow on the first team were Adam Haluska of Iowa, A.J. Graves of Butler, Lee Humphrey of Florida and Joe Reitz of Western Michigan.