Thirty-six boys and 33 girls have been chosen Academic 1st-team All-State by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. These were all seniors from around the Hoosier State.

Three of Scott Gray's Union County Lady Patriots were selected honorable mention for their work in the classroom. They are Brooke Fields, Carly McCashland and Shelby Hill.

The IBCA Academic All-State program is one where academic prowess and athletic prowess both are considered in the selections. Items such as grade-point average, academic class rank and SAT or ACT scores are considered along with athletic performance in areas such as points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game. 

"The quality of these student-athletes shows that success in academics and success in athletics are not separate entities," executive director Marty Johnson said. "Rather, in many cases, a player's success in the classroom directly contributes to his or her success on the floor."

IBCA-member head coaches from schools across the state may nominate their senior student-athletes who meet criteria that include a 3.5 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale, a class rank in the upper 25 percent of one's class and either an SAT score of 1100 (on the reading and math sections) or an ACT composite score of 24. Once nominations were received, an IBCA committee reviewed the information and determined awards for first team and honorable mention.

Bailey Parham of Tri and Cole Pride of Batesville made the 1st-team. Other honorable mentions include: Carter Jenkins, Hagerstown; Avery McGriff, Cambridge City Lincoln; Charles Sauser and Reagan Riggin, Winchester; Annabelle Searcy, Tri; Marissa Cates, Northeastern; Lucas Barron, Gavin Pearson and Braxton Myers, Connersville; Rhys Hofer, Julia Tiemann and Caitlyn Dick, East Central; Reid Messer, North Decatur; Cora Deputy and Makayla Granger-Young, Batesville.