JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – For a second time in three years, Carson-Newman's men's basketball program has placed four players on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
Nick Brenegan, Jack Browder and John Zhao all make repeat appearances on the listing, with Brenegan and Zhao appearing for a third time and Browder for a second, while Matt Bilbrey makes his first appearance.
The 2024-25 Academic All-District® Men's Basketball teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes men's basketball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
Academic All-District® honorees were considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot.
Student-athletes selected as CSC Academic All-America® finalists are denoted with an asterisk and will advance to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced April 15, 2025.
Brenegan, Browder and Zhao are all finalists for Academic All-America honors. Browder and Zhao were both recognized as Academic All-Americans last year.
Browder leads C-N with 19.7 points per game. He also averages a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game. He has produced 30 double-digit scoring efforts this season, including 15, 20-point efforts. He leads the conference with 14 double-double games this season.
A four-time SAC Player of the Week honoree, Browder was named NABC National Player of the Week on Dec. 10.
Zhao is the fifth Eagle in school history to hit 80 threes in back-to-back seasons. He is averaging 19.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Zhao has scored 20 points or more 13 times this season, topping out at 34 against Anderson. He earned SAC Player of the Week and TSWA Player of the Week honors on Jan. 27.
Brenegan is the only player in school history to hit 90 threes in consecutive seasons. He finished his career second in school history and fourth in SAC history with 287 career threes.
Brenegan averaged 13.5 points while making 50 percent of his shots and 44.6 percent of his threes.
Bilbrey turned in a quality red-shirt freshman campaign, shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from three while averaging 4.1 points per game.
