March 1, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Chris Quinn (Dublin, Ohio), one of the nation’s and BIG EAST’s top point guards, became the seventh player in the history of the Notre Dame men’s basketball program to earn Academic All-America honors when he was named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Men’s Basketball University Division Academic All-America First Team. His selection marks the 11th time a Notre Dame player has been selected for the honor, but Quinn is the first Irish men’s basketball All-American since Pat Garrity – currently a member of the NBA’s Orlando Magic – earned the honor in both 1997 and `98.
A marketing major in the Mendoza College of Business, the 6-2 guard owns a 3.24 overall grade point average. He had his highest grade index in the fall of 2005 when he finished with a 3.833.
Women’s basketball player Megan Duffy (Dayton, Ohio) also earned first-team Academic All-America honors, as Notre Dame was the only school to have a men’s and women’s player selected to the first team.
Quinn is the sixth Notre Dame player to earn first-team honors. Bob Arnzen was a three-time first-team honoree (1967-69), while John Paxson (1982-83) and Garrity (1997-98) were two-time selections. Gary Novak earned first-team distinction in 1974, while Kelly Tripucka garnered first-team recognition in 1979. The other Irish player to earn Academic All-America honors was Rich Branning in 1980.
Quinn is averaging a career-best 18.4 ppg. overall and 21.4 ppg. in conference play. A three-year starter, he has scored in double figures in 23 games this season and topped the 30-point mark on four occasions (all in BIG EAST play). Quinn also leads the team in assists (6.1) and steals (1.6) and has been named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on three occasions. Quinn is one of just three players in Notre Dame history to score 30-plus points in four conference games in a single season. Garrity was the first Irish player to record four 30-point games in BIG EAST play, in 1997-98, while Troy Murphy registered his four 30-point performances during the 1999-2000 campaign.
The two-time Irish captain has played in 118 games during his career (and missed just two to injury) and made 77 starts. Quinn is one of eight players in school history to score more than 1,000 points and dish off better than 300 assists. He has scored 1,383 career points for an 11.7 average and has 388 assists (3.3).
Notre Dame has produced a total of six Academic All-Americans thus far for the 2005-06 school year and ranks second all-time with a total of 164.