CLEVELAND – The Mid-American Conference announced its 2023-24 Academic All-MAC Team on Wednesday, with Western Michigan redshirt freshman Max Burton and sophomore JaVaughn Hannah among the league's honorees. It is the second academic award in recent weeks for the duo, who were both named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® Team last month.
 
The Academic All-MAC honor is for student-athletes who excel in both athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport.
 
Burton sports a 3.71 GPA as a Pre-Business major. After seeing his true freshman campaign cut short by injury in 2022-23, he bounced back to play in 31 of Western Michigan's 32 games this season. The redshirt freshman averaged 3.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 52.9 percent from the field.
 
Back in February, the Williamston, Mich., native went 5-for-6 from the floor to score double-digit points for the first time as a Bronco in a critical win over Miami which gave Western Michigan a series sweep over the RedHawks for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
 
A Sport Management major who owns a 3.90 GPA, Hannah became the third player in WMU program history to earn the MAC Sixth Man of the Year award this year after averaging 9.2 points and 3.3 rebounds across 30 games for the Broncos.
 
The Mount Clemens, Mich., native boosted his totals in league play, averaging 10.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, with 10 of his 12 double-digit scoring performances coming against MAC foes. Hannah collected 1.8 offensive rebounds per game in league contests, helping Western Michigan pace the conference in offensive rebounding for the second straight year at 12.8 per game during MAC play.