SU men’s basketball earns higher academic progress rating after failing to meet 2008-09 standards
Syracuse University athletic teams were not among the 103 teams penalized for falling too low in the NCAA’s academic progress rates for the 2009-10 season.
The NCAA released the latest APR data Wednesday, reporting the overall multiyear Division I APR is at 967, an increase of three points from last year, and fewer schools were penalized for poor performance. The NCAA accredited this to a willingness to make athletes’ academic performance a priority and a number of policy adjustments concerning core curriculum and academic requirements.
Of all of SU’s teams rated using APR, the basketball team received the lowest score for 2009-10, coming in at 928. The football team received the second-lowest score with an APR of 946. The overall multiyear Division I APR for men’s basketball was at 940, an increase of seven points, and for football at 944, an increase of five points. An APR lower than 925 means 50 percent or fewer players are on track academically to graduate.
This latest APR for the basketball team is an increase from the last report. For the 2008-09 season, SU had an APR of 912 and was penalized with two scholarship reductions.
In a press conference in late March, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said 10 of the 68 teams that began in the 2011 NCAA Tournament should have been disqualified for players’ poor academic performance. Not all 10 schools were named in the press conference, but Duncan used SU as an example.
In a March 18 article in USA Today, SU head coach Jim Boeheim said SU’s APR would be at 926 for the 2009-2010 rates. Pete Moore, spokesman for the team, declined to comment on SU’s latest APR. He said in an email he was unaware of Boeheim’s quote in USA Today.
The low APR was ‘an anomaly,’ said Kevin Quinn, vice president for public affairs at SU, in a statement released after the press conference in March. Quinn attributed the low APR to basketball players Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf leaving mid-semester during the 2008-09 season to pursue professional careers.
Quinn could not be reached for comment on the latest ratings.
Published on May 25, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride
