Feb. 7, 2008

GREELEY, Colo. -- University of Northern Colorado men's basketball senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos was today named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII First-Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Panagiotakopoulos is majoring in business administration with a 3.78 grade point average and one of three Big Sky Conference players to be named to the first team (Matt Stucki, Idaho State and Josh Wilson, Northern Arizona - both District VIII selections).

He played in all 20 games for the Bears, starting in 19 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He was averaging 8.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game, ranking among the conference leaders in both assists and steals.

To be eligible, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career and the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution.

Panagiotakopoulos will now be forwarded to the national ballot for a chance to earn Academic All-America honors. Voting for that is done by a committee of sports information directors across the country and will begin on Feb. 12.

District VII First Team