A trio from the Missouri Valley Conference has earned CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District honors, the organization announced on Thursday, including Clayton Custer of Loyola, Marcus Bartley of Southern Illinois and Nick McGlynn of Drake.  All three will now appear on the national ballot for Academic All-America honors.

Bartley was a third-team Academic All-American as a junior last year and finished his exercise science degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA in May 2018. He is pursuing is M.B.A. and holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in that program, as well. He earned Academic All-District in District 5, which is comprised of all Division I universities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Each of the eight districts have a five-man Academic All-District team, and all Academic All-District recipients are eligible for Academic All-America teams, which will be announced March 11.  Bartley has played in all 28 games this year and started 17. He is averaging 5.4 points and 2.6 assists per game. His 72 assists are second on the team. He is also shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line, hitting 36-of-96 from distance. Bartley's assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.6:1, which is second-best on the team.  After earning Academic All-America honors last year, Bartley became the fifth Saluki to earn Academic All-America honors and first since Bryan Mullins in 2009. 

McGlynn was a 2018 MVC Scholar-Athlete first team selection and leads Drake in scoring and rebounding this year.  He leads the MVC in rebounding and ranks in the top five in scoring.  McGlynn had six double-doubles in the first 13 MVC contests of the season and eight total double-doubles as of Feb. 12.  He became the 25th Bulldog to score 1,000 or more career points and is the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots.  McGlynn has scored in double figures in all but four games as of Feb. 12 and has had six 20-point games as of Feb. 12 and matched his career-high in rebounds (13) three times.  He is shooting 53 percent from the field and 75.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Last season, Custer earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America, Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year and National Jesuit Player of the Year recognition after leading the Ramblers to a school-record 32 victories and the program's first trip to the NCAA Final Four since winning the national championship in 1963. This year, Custer, who is a finalist for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, is contributing 11.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 39 percent (53-for-136) from three-point range for a Loyola squad that sits tied for first in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 17-11 overall record and a 10-5 league mark.  Earlier this season, Custer netted a career-best 26 points, hitting 6 of 8 shots from three-point range, in an 85-74 victory at Drake (Jan. 5). During his memorable year in 2017-18, Custer put up 13.2 points. 2.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per contest, shooting 52.8 percent (160-for-303) from the field and 45.1 percent (60-for-133) from three-point territory.  Off the court, Custer, who last May earned his undergraduate degree in finance and is now working toward his master's in business administration, is a two-time Division I-AAA Scholar-Athlete Team pick and twice has been named MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. In 2017-18, he was also selected as the recipient of the MVC State Farm Good Neighbor Award and was named Kansas City Sports Commission Co-Sportsmen of the Year.