Academic progress penalties again hit NCAA schools with lesser resources, including HBCUs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eighteen Division I teams will miss the postseason, and another 18 in men's basketball and nine other college sports will trade practice time for remedial classroom sessions under NCAA academic progress reports released Tuesday.
Poor Academic Progress Rate scores mean postseason bans in the 2013-14 academic year for teams from 10 schools: Alabama State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Florida A&M, Florida International, Grambling State, Mississippi Valley State, New Orleans, Norfolk State, Savannah State and Southern. That compares to 15 teams ineligible for the 2012-13 postseason.
Five teams received Level 3 APR penalties, which can include financial aid reductions and multi-year postseason bans: the men's basketball teams at Chicago State, Grambling, Mississippi Valley and Louisiana-Monroe and Chicago State's women's volleyball team.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Most of the penalized schools have significantly more limited resources than top NCAA programs, including 11 historically black schools.
The overall four-year APR score across Division 1 is 974, a one-point increase from last year. Scores are calculated by individual D-I teams based on eligibility and graduation and retention rates. A minimum four-year average score of 900, or 930 over the most recent two years, is required for postseason participation. The minimum required APR scores will increase to 930 over four years or 940 over two years, starting with the 2014-15 postseason.
Under the APR standards, the NCAA defines "limited resource" schools as those ranking in the bottom 15 percent in athletics spending. Those schools only have to earn a four-year APR of 910 for the 2014-15 postseason.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Connecticut's men's basketball team, which was barred from the 2013 postseason because of past problems with its Academic Progress Rate — the first BCS school so sanctioned — has qualified academically for next year's NCAA tournament.
The squads losing postseason eligibility consist of six men's basketball teams; three football teams: two squads each in baseball, women's volleyball and men's indoor and outdoor track; and the New Orleans women's basketball team. Data for eight of the sanctioned teams remains under review, meaning the penalties could be reversed or lessened.
The ineligible men's basketball teams include Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley for a second consecutive year. Both are members of the Southwest Athletic Conference, as are Grambling and Alabama State, whose men's basketball teams must also sit out the next postseason.