Academic Progress Report issued by NCAA

[SCTrojan]

USC men's basketball not looking too good.

To check on specific schools:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/home?...ta_J5lt9A.html


NCAA academic report: some college teams may be hit hard

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g...Pg1GQD90G90U01

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — College teams that consistently underperform in the classroom are getting hit harder by the NCAA.

Nearly 150 college teams face possible scholarship losses next season and 26 others are in danger of being banned from postseason play if they don't improve next year.

The NCAA's annual academic progress report was released Tuesday. It showed more than 700 teams fell short of the mandated cut score.

But only 218 were penalized with warning letters, potential reductions in scholarships and practice time and warned they face possible postseason bans. Some were granted waivers by the governing body.

Thirty-six teams were assessed two penalties and three schools had more than one team make the list twice — Alabama-Birmingham in men's basketball, football and men's golf; San Diego State in baseball and football; and San Jose State in baseball and men's basketball.

When a team does not improve, the punishments can become harsher with three consecutive scores under 900 leading to a postseason ban. A fourth consecutive offense would prevent them from competing at the Division I level.

Schools already facing a possible postseason ban include football teams at San Jose State, Southern and Temple, and men's basketball teams at New Mexico, Centenary and East Carolina.

Money is becoming a more notable factor in academic success or failure. According to the report, 180 teams cited low resources as the reason for their poor scores, while 253 teams said they were hurt by the departures of academically ineligible players. Teams can cite more than one explanation for scores when filing the report with the NCAA.

This year's result also show the largest Division I schools, those in the Bowl Championship Series conferences, performed relatively well.

Eighteen BCS teams were penalized, eight in men's and women's basketball and two in football. Of those, only four teams — Kansas State, Purdue, Southern California and Tennessee — made the NCAA men's basketball tournament and all four could lose up to two scholarships next season if a player leaves school while academically ineligible.

Also making the list were traditional powers like the LSU baseball team and Tennessee men's swimming team.

Tennessee and West Virginia, which each had three teams on the list, were the only BCS schools with more than one team penalized. Each school had three teams make it — West Virginia in men's soccer, wrestling and women's rowing and Tennessee in men's basketball, men's swimming and baseball.

Women continue to outperform men, with a four-year average of 969 compared to 951.

Historically black colleges and universities, which last year had a disparate percentage of the low scores, fell more in line with the national averages this year. Eleven teams, 4.3 percent of the overall total, at eight historically black schools were penalized. The national average was 4.0 percent.

The most recent report includes scores from the 2003-07 academic years. An athlete earns one point for remaining academically eligible each semester and another point each semester they remain at the school, accumulating a maximum of four points each year. The scoring is altered slightly for schools on a quarters-based calendar.

Over the past four years, the scores improved slightly in 26 of the 29 sports measured by the NCAA, with decreases shown only in men's ice hockey, men's swimming and water polo.

[ChiTown]

KSU lost a bball scholie thanks to Jason Bennett and Mario Taybron - a couple of absolute wastes of space.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

KSU lost a bball scholie thanks to Jason Bennett and Mario Taybron - a couple of absolute wastes of space.

But hey, at least Bennett will have a glorious NBA career!

[teedubya]

Jason Benneck.

Personally, I think the NCAA needs to not allow taking ONLY online courses, a la Beasley and Walker. I imagine it would be TOO EASY to cheat on an online course.

That shit needs to be banned, seriously.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Ari Douch3

Jason Benneck.

Personally, I think the NCAA needs to not allow taking ONLY online courses, a la Beasley and Walker. I imagine it would be TOO EASY to cheat on an online course.

That shit needs to be banned, seriously.

So you're not concerned about regulart grads, just student athletes?

BTW, my wife takes online courses for her Master's degree, and there is really not much difference in the homework from a regular course, so if a person is inclined to cheat, they will do so either way. Her classes have usually involved writing papers and doing projects.

[Pitt Gorilla]

KU lost two football scholarships due to their low APR numbers? Didn't they already lose a couple due to academic fraud? That can't help.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...2?OpenDocument

Edit: Academic fraud by coaches results in a 3 scholarship loss, not 2 as I had originally posted.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Here is a direct link to the penalties:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/home?...By+Institution

[alanm]

What is the mandated cut score? It doesn't say in the article

[HughC]

My first instinct is to get tougher on these "students", but I don't think that's the problem. Considering their "work" schedule - practice, film room, and especially the travel schedule - how many hours a week are they off campus? - there's no way you can expect them to complete a normal student's coursework.

Reality is that collegiate athletics is a huge revenue generating enterprise. Aside from ticket sales and television revenue, it creates a stream of money from alumni and also creates interest that brings students to the university. Hoops makes a lot more money than football thanks to a smaller number of players on the team, and a venue that costs less to build but has more games played there.

[KcMizzou]

No trouble for Mizzou? That's refreshing.

[SCTrojan]

Originally Posted by alanm

What is the mandated cut score? It doesn't say in the article

I think the magic number is 925. If an individual team falls below that number for a year, then it can be sanctioned if a team member becomes academically ineligible the next year. If a team goes under 900 for consecutive years, then more than scholarships are revoked.

[DaKCMan AP]

UF, FSU, UCF meet NCAA standards

Athletic teams at the 3 state schools perform above the threshold for receiving penalties.

Kyle Hightower |Sentinel Staff Writer

The University of Florida, Florida State and UCF all avoided scholarship losses after scoring above the penalty threshold in the latest NCAA Academic Progress Rate numbers, released on Tuesday.

The APR scores for individual programs are based on the eligibility and retention of student-athletes. Any team receiving a score below 925 can lose scholarships. This year's numbers cover the four-years starting in the 2003-04 school year and ends with 2006-07.

The APR formula is intended to be a four-year snapshot, and 2008 is the first year without "confidence boundaries," which allowed schools to avoid penalties because the APR was less than four years old.

Teams lose a point if an athlete leaves the program. They lose another point when the same athlete would have been ineligible to compete the following semester, resulting in a double penalty.

The NCAA's annual academic progress report showed more than 700 teams fell short of the mandated cut score. But only 218 were penalized with warning letters, potential reductions in scholarships and practice time and warned they face possible postseason bans.

A full report is due out next week, but nearly 150 schools face possible scholarship losses next season and 26 are in danger of getting postseason sanctions if they don't get their numbers up next year.

The only two state schools hit with scholarships losses are Florida Atlantic and Florida International. FAU lost three scholarships in football, and a fraction in baseball. FIU really got whacked in five sports, and baseball now has practice time limited.

USF had its top three men's programs all score below the 925 mark, with basketball at just 904, football at 917 and baseball at 923. Its women's programs didn't have a program below 930, with basketball leading the way at 961.

The Miami men's cross country team had a perfect 1,000 while its basketball and football teams come in at 948 and 969, respectively. The women didn't have a team below 934, with women's hoops coming in at 980.

The NCAA has discretion on whether to take away scholarships from teams that are below 925. Leeway is given to programs that have consistently shown improvement in their APRs each school year since collection of data started in 2003-04. That is why UCF's soccer team -- the school's only program with an APR less than 930 (906) -- and the three USF teams aren't being penalized.

Nationally, the overall APR average was 961, or up a point from last year's numbers. For men's teams, the overall national average was also up a point at 951, while the women's teams fell a point to 969.

According to the report, 180 teams cited low resources as the reason for their poor scores, while 253 teams said they were hurt by the departures of academically ineligible players. Teams can cite more than one explanation for scores when filing the report with the NCAA.

At UCF, the men's golf and women's softball teams shared the highest score among UCF's teams at 980. The Knights' football and basketball teams had APRs of 937 and 931, respectively. The women's basketball team came in at 967.

In a separate announcement Tuesday, UCF had the highest number of athletes recognized on Conference USA's Commissioner Honor Roll, honoring students who had at least a 3.0 grade-point average. This is the second year that UCF has had that distinction, this year placing 194 athletes on the 1,824-member list.

Florida State's teams performed well on the APR and the Seminoles men's teams did especially well.

Six of FSU's eight varsity men's teams -- including the football team -- performed better in the classroom than the Division I average in their given sports. The Seminoles' men's golf team scored a perfect 1,000 and received a public-recognition award from the NCAA.

Just three of the Seminoles' 10 women's sports scored above the Division I average in their sports. The softball team, however, scored a 992 and received an NCAA public-recognition award for its success. Overall, 14 Florida State teams scored a 950 or better.

UF fared well in this latest release of APR scores. Women's volleyball achieved a perfect 1,000 score, which earned the program special public recognition from the NCAA.

The lone problem program was men's basketball, which earned a score of 919. The score, which estimates the program's graduation rate at 55-60 percent, came in below the average for Division I men's basketball teams. It also forces UF to design a program to improve the score, a requirement for any school with a program that falls below 925.

Florida's football program, once plagued by academic problems, has rallied and achieved an APR of 962. UF's women's cross-country, golf and tennis programs all received scores higher than 990.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/c...,3226435.story

[alanm]

Originally Posted by SCTrojan

I think the magic number is 925. If an individual team falls below that number for a year, then it can be sanctioned if a team member becomes academically ineligible the next year. If a team goes under 900 for consecutive years, then more than scholarships are revoked.

It would appear that the Cross Country team could be in trouble at Nebraska.
Damn them trouble makers!!
Other than that everybody else passed.

[redbrian]

Originally Posted by HughC

My first instinct is to get tougher on these "students", but I don't think that's the problem. Considering their "work" schedule - practice, film room, and especially the travel schedule - how many hours a week are they off campus? - there's no way you can expect them to complete a normal student's coursework.

Reality is that collegiate athletics is a huge revenue generating enterprise. Aside from ticket sales and television revenue, it creates a stream of money from alumni and also creates interest that brings students to the university. Hoops makes a lot more money than football thanks to a smaller number of players on the team, and a venue that costs less to build but has more games played there.

BS, I worked three jobs and carried a full load, even during the summer, and I didn't have the resources to help me like these kids do.

This is a direct reflection of the Schools and the Coaches attitude about academics, the fat man and KU places academics at the bottom of the importance pile.

Just another black eye for KU.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

So you're not concerned about regulart grads, just student athletes?

BTW, my wife takes online courses for her Master's degree, and there is really not much difference in the homework from a regular course, so if a person is inclined to cheat, they will do so either way. Her classes have usually involved writing papers and doing projects.

Is your wife a student athlete while doing her Masters???

Personally, they need to up the level of athletic scholarship standards to maintain a B average.. Do you know how dumb or lazy you have to be in college to not maintain a B???

College athletics need to go back to being a way to get into college and not a way to make money for the schools..