A. Jones
2010-05-16 16:22:47 UTC
Butler, Mich. St., WVU get top marks
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- West Virginia and Butler couldn't beat Duke at the
Final Four. They both finished ahead of the Blue Devils in the
classroom.
Three of the men's Final Four teams -- the Bulldogs, Mountaineers and
Michigan State -- made the NCAA's list of academic overachievers
Wednesday while the national champs were left out.
The biggest surprise on the list: West Virginia, whose coach, Bob
Huggins, has repeatedly been criticized for not taking academics
seriously. Huggins' Cincinnati teams had a 0.0 graduation rate for
several seasons.
"It's a commitment by the athletic department and the university to
supply the resources to help the players succeed academically,"
Huggins said in a statement released by the school. "I commend our
guys not only for their performance on the floor but in their academic
work in the classroom as well."
NCAA officials annually honor the top 10 percent of teams in each
sport and all teams with perfect Academic Progress Rate scores. This
year, 841 teams made the list of so-called overachievers, including
Oklahoma -- the only women's Final Four team to make the list. Last
year, 767 teams were recognized.
The actual scores, which will be released later this spring, cover the
fall semester of 2005 through the spring semester of 2009. That means
only two of those academic years came during Huggins' tenure. The
other two were under John Beilein, who left for Michigan after
2006-07.
Each athlete earns one point per semester for remaining academically
eligible and another point each semester for remaining at that school
or graduating. A mathematical formula is then used to correlate a
team's score, with 1,000 points being perfect.
It is the first time West Virginia made the list in men's basketball,
and under Huggins, West Virginia's number improved. Last year, the
Mountaineers had a 960. This year, the NCAA said, none of the honorees
scored lower than 978.
Just as surprising was not seeing Duke on the list. The Blue Devils
had made it each of the past two years.
Teams lose one point if players transfer or leave early for the NBA
and a second point if they are not in good academic standing when they
leave. Duke had three transfers count against its score during that
four-year period, though it doesn't mean the Blue Devils fell below
the 925 threshold, which can lead to sanctions for teams with
consistently poor scores.
Duke also wasn't the only national champion left off the list.
Connecticut, which won the women's basketball title, and Alabama,
which won the BCS title game, were also missing.
"Most Division I student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual
responsibilities in the classroom and on the court or field of play,"
interim NCAA president Jim Isch said in a statement. "But every year
there is a special category of teams that perform exceptionally well
and deserve this noteworthy recognition."
Butler, the national runner-up, joined the academic overachievers for
the first time and was one of 13 schools to have their men's and
women's basketball teams make the list.
Coach Brad Stevens was not surprised since the school has
traditionally not had many players leave the program early, transfer
or run into academic problems.
"It's just like having a very good basketball team, you want them to
put in the work in the classroom so those guys are prepared for life
after basketball," he said. "We want them to be really ambitious and
competitive in the classroom, too, and I think anything we do is a
direct reflection of the relationship we have with our school leaders.
They play a huge role in that, and that's why Butler is such a great
story."
North Carolina's men's basketball team extended its run of consecutive
appearances on the list to five. The Kansas basketball team, which Roy
Williams coached before returning to Chapel Hill, N.C., has made it
three consecutive years.
Only eight teams that played in a bowl game or the Football
Championship Subdivision playoffs were honored, including the 2008 and
2009 FCS champions, Richmond and Villanova.
Yale led all schools with the most teams on the list (24) for the
fourth straight time. Dartmouth was next with 22 and Pennsylvania was
third with 20.
The Ivy League had 135 teams make the cut, the most of any conference.
The Patriot League was second with 90 teams, followed by the Big East
with 70.
Three-hundred nineteen teams have made the list in all five years it
has been released by the NCAA.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5183738
--
DISCUSS THIS TOPIC AT...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WVU-Sports
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- West Virginia and Butler couldn't beat Duke at the
Final Four. They both finished ahead of the Blue Devils in the
classroom.
Three of the men's Final Four teams -- the Bulldogs, Mountaineers and
Michigan State -- made the NCAA's list of academic overachievers
Wednesday while the national champs were left out.
The biggest surprise on the list: West Virginia, whose coach, Bob
Huggins, has repeatedly been criticized for not taking academics
seriously. Huggins' Cincinnati teams had a 0.0 graduation rate for
several seasons.
"It's a commitment by the athletic department and the university to
supply the resources to help the players succeed academically,"
Huggins said in a statement released by the school. "I commend our
guys not only for their performance on the floor but in their academic
work in the classroom as well."
NCAA officials annually honor the top 10 percent of teams in each
sport and all teams with perfect Academic Progress Rate scores. This
year, 841 teams made the list of so-called overachievers, including
Oklahoma -- the only women's Final Four team to make the list. Last
year, 767 teams were recognized.
The actual scores, which will be released later this spring, cover the
fall semester of 2005 through the spring semester of 2009. That means
only two of those academic years came during Huggins' tenure. The
other two were under John Beilein, who left for Michigan after
2006-07.
Each athlete earns one point per semester for remaining academically
eligible and another point each semester for remaining at that school
or graduating. A mathematical formula is then used to correlate a
team's score, with 1,000 points being perfect.
It is the first time West Virginia made the list in men's basketball,
and under Huggins, West Virginia's number improved. Last year, the
Mountaineers had a 960. This year, the NCAA said, none of the honorees
scored lower than 978.
Just as surprising was not seeing Duke on the list. The Blue Devils
had made it each of the past two years.
Teams lose one point if players transfer or leave early for the NBA
and a second point if they are not in good academic standing when they
leave. Duke had three transfers count against its score during that
four-year period, though it doesn't mean the Blue Devils fell below
the 925 threshold, which can lead to sanctions for teams with
consistently poor scores.
Duke also wasn't the only national champion left off the list.
Connecticut, which won the women's basketball title, and Alabama,
which won the BCS title game, were also missing.
"Most Division I student-athletes and teams take seriously their dual
responsibilities in the classroom and on the court or field of play,"
interim NCAA president Jim Isch said in a statement. "But every year
there is a special category of teams that perform exceptionally well
and deserve this noteworthy recognition."
Butler, the national runner-up, joined the academic overachievers for
the first time and was one of 13 schools to have their men's and
women's basketball teams make the list.
Coach Brad Stevens was not surprised since the school has
traditionally not had many players leave the program early, transfer
or run into academic problems.
"It's just like having a very good basketball team, you want them to
put in the work in the classroom so those guys are prepared for life
after basketball," he said. "We want them to be really ambitious and
competitive in the classroom, too, and I think anything we do is a
direct reflection of the relationship we have with our school leaders.
They play a huge role in that, and that's why Butler is such a great
story."
North Carolina's men's basketball team extended its run of consecutive
appearances on the list to five. The Kansas basketball team, which Roy
Williams coached before returning to Chapel Hill, N.C., has made it
three consecutive years.
Only eight teams that played in a bowl game or the Football
Championship Subdivision playoffs were honored, including the 2008 and
2009 FCS champions, Richmond and Villanova.
Yale led all schools with the most teams on the list (24) for the
fourth straight time. Dartmouth was next with 22 and Pennsylvania was
third with 20.
The Ivy League had 135 teams make the cut, the most of any conference.
The Patriot League was second with 90 teams, followed by the Big East
with 70.
Three-hundred nineteen teams have made the list in all five years it
has been released by the NCAA.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5183738
--
DISCUSS THIS TOPIC AT...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WVU-Sports