Bucknell's Mike Muscala Picked as Candidate for Senior CLASS Award

Bison Senior One of 30 Division I Men's Basketball Student-Athletes Selected

Mike Muscala

Oct. 31, 2012

LEWISBURG, Pa. –Bucknell senior Mike Muscala (Roseville, Minn./Roseville), a three-time All-Patriot Leaguer and one of the nation’s top senior centers, was named one of 30 candidates for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate basketball. The award honors senior student-athletes who have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one men’s finalist and one women’s finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

Muscala has earned All-Patriot League honors in each of his first three seasons and was the Patriot League Player of the Year in 2010-11. He enters his senior year ranked ninth in school history in career points (1,399), 10th in rebounds (715) and second in blocked shots (191). Last year he averaged 17.0 points and a league-high 9.1 rebounds per game, and he tied a school record with 16 double-doubles.

Muscala is also an outstanding student in Bucknell’s challenging management program. He has made the five-man Patriot League All-Academic Team in each of the last two years, and he was a Capital One Academic All-District Selection in 2011. Muscala was also the recipient of the Charles F. White Memorial Prize for Scholar-Athletes in 2011 and the ECAC Merit Award in earlier this fall.

Muscala has led the Bison to back-to-back 25-win seasons and Patriot League regular-season championships. Bucknell won the Patriot League Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, and last year the Bison went to the NIT for the first time in program history and defeated top-seeded Arizona in the first round.

Bucknell opens the season on Nov. 9 at Purdue as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefitting Wounded Warrior Project. The home opener is set for Nov. 13 against George Mason at 7 p.m.