Dau honored as Academic All-American
INDIANOLA, Iowa – Simpson senior forward Andrew Dau (Primghar, Iowa/South O'Brien) earned a spot on the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® College Division Men's Basketball Third Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The announcement came late Monday.
Dau, a first team academic all-district selection, becomes Simpson's first CoSIDA Academic All-American since softball player Kate Brandt landed a spot on the first team in 2005. He is the first men's basketball player to receive the honor since Jesse Harris was named to the first team in 2003.
His selection marks the 27th time since 1990 a student-athlete at Simpson has been recognized as a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Dau carries a 3.97 cumulative GPA and is pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science and math. A three-time Iowa Conference All-Academic selection, Dau has been named to the President's List (4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale) at Simpson five semesters and the Dean's List (3.7-3.99 on a 4.0) on two occasions.
This past summer, Dau interned for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service, where he plans to work following graduation while pursuing a graduate degree in statistics.
Cole Aldrich of the University of Kansas and Daniel McKeehan of Thomas More were selected as the Academic All-America of the Year in the University and College Divisions, respectively.
To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a player must be a starter or important reserve, have completed one full calendar year at the nominating institution and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or better.
Joining Dau on the third team were Steve Djurickovic of Carthage, Eric Duerr of Case Western Reserve, Matt Pelton of Augustana and Scott Rodgers of Texas-Dallas.
A 6-4 forward, Dau entered his senior season averaging less than five points per game during his career. His numbers improved dramatically in his final season, finishing the year second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg). Simpson ended its season with a record of 6-19 overall and 3-13 in the Iowa Conference.
A four-year letterwinner, Dau played in 96 games throughout his career, starting 66. He scored 648 points and pulled down 340 rebounds. He scored a career-high 21 points on two occasions this season, most recently against Loras Jan. 9.
A starter in all 23 games in which he appeared in 2009-10, Dau's season was cut short after a knee injury sustained Feb. 10 against Buena Vista caused him to miss the final two games of the season.
