Andy Wicke

Classroom

As a fifth-year senior, Wicke is a four-time Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic team member and a Dean’s List mainstay. Wicke is an honor student (3.75 GPA, 3.77 major GPA) in his chosen major of Environmental Studies. The Hendersonville, Tenn. native will become Belmont’s first-ever Environmental Studies graduate in the program’s seven-year history. As detailed in a recent feature by Kyle Whelliston for ESPN.com, Wicke, as part of his senior thesis project, spent the summer testing human impact on the local ecosystem by collecting data from a river along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Wicke tested the water for ph levels, temperature and dissolved oxygen. Moreover, Wicke has completed his Dental Admissions Test work and plans to attend dental school following graduation from Belmont in May 2009.  He received ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Third Team honors for the 2008-09 season.

Character

A senior captain on the reigning three-time defending Atlantic Sun Conference Champion Bruins, Wicke has led by example from his first day on campus. Despite leading the Atlantic Sun Conference and ranking 16th nationally in three-point field goal percentage in 2006-07 (.440), Wicke willingly surrendered his starting role in 2007-08 to provide an offensive and defensive spark of the bench. Furthermore, Wicke has played through numerous injuries, notably multiple ligament sprains in his shooting thumb (one requiring surgery), a dislocated finger, multiple forehead stitches (vs. Georgetown in 2007 NCAA Tournament and at Kennesaw State in 2006), and is currently playing through turf toe.

Community

Wicke has countless involvement in service and charitable endeavors. Since his arrival at Belmont, Wicke has been a part of three overseas mission trips - Ukraine, Venezuela, and Brazil - organized and led by Belmont Athletics Senior Woman Administrator Betty Wiseman. Wicke and his teammates use basketball as a vehicle to share their personal Christian faith with local school children, many of whom come from impoverished areas. Wicke has made lasting connections with the children and parents of these areas. Following graduation, Wicke plans to attend the Belmont mission trip to South Africa in summer 2009. Additionally, Wicke is an active member in the Belmont chapter of SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise). SIFE is a nonprofit organization that gives students the tolls to learn the free enterprise system in a real working environment. SIFE - which is on more than 800 campus nationwide - empowers students to utilize classroom knowledge to better their communities. Wicke has taken a lead in the Belmont SIFE outreach to ‘100 Kings’ of Nashville - a middle Tennessee-based program which identifies African-American high school sophomores and juniors with exemplary leadership and academic abilities and invests time and effort into their educational development towards college. For instance, Wicke is currently mentoring and tutoring students in math on Saturday mornings in hopes of bolstering their ACT scores for college enterance exams. Wicke has also contributed to SIFE’s efforts with Dismas House Nashville - a residential community where college students assist men transitioning from incarceration to life in society. Services included resume building and interviewing skills. Wicke has been an active volunteer at the Harris-Hillman Special Education School of Nashville, playing basketball with children of varied special needs. In particular, Wicke has assisted in the maintenance of the Harris-Hillman sensory garden - an area replete with wind chimes, vibrant flowers and outdoor toys - which give children with cerebral palsy added enjoyment. Wicke has also lent his time to a service learning project at Belmont whereby students spruced up an unutilized plot of land as part of the Metro Parks of Nashville and turned it into a highly-functioning garden. Areas residents, many of whom come from low-income families, are able to pick there own fruits and vegetables from the public garden.

Competition

Wicke’s impact on Belmont Basketball has been undeniable and far-reaching. Along with teammates Matthew Dotson and Henry Harris, Wicke is one of just six players in all of college basketball in 2008-09 with the opportunity to earn four consecutive automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. In Wicke’s first three seasons, Belmont has gone 68-30 with the program’s first three NCAA Tournament appearances. The 6-2 guard sank the game-winning shot in last year’s regular season finale against Gardner-Webb, securing Belmont’s first-ever outright Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship. Wicke also helped Belmont to a No. 11 ranking in the final 2007-08 Mid Major 25 poll. Aside from being one of the top three-point shooters at the mid-major level, Wicke typically earns the defensive assignment of the opposing team’s top perimeter player. In his career-high scoring game of 31 points against Gardner-Webb in February of 2007, Wicke sank a Curb Event Center record 10 three-point field goals, on only 12 attempts. Wicke also starred in Belmont’s near-upset of three-time National Champion Duke in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, scoring 14 points. With 849 career points entering the 2008-09 season, Wicke is 151 points away from becoming just the eighth player in Belmont’s NCAA-era to score 1,000 or more points in a career.