Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Pack, Devils, Heels score high in APR

The three Triangle-area men’s basketball teams that capture the nation’s attention are among the national leaders in the classroom according to NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) data released Wednesday afternoon.

N.C. State led all ACC men’s basketball teams with a score of 995 out of a possible 1,000. The APR measures the total progress toward graduation of athletes on each team at each Division I schools. A 925 is considered a passing score.

School athletics officials said N.C. State’s strong showing in the classroom is partly due to coach Sidney Lowe’s efforts to keep players in school after he took over for Herb Sendek in 2006.

Coaching changes often are followed by an exodus of players who transfer to other schools, but that didn’t happen at N.C. State.

“I think academically when Herb left they were in pretty good shape, and Sidney has done a good job of trying to maintain kids in school,” said N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler.

The men’s basketball teams at Duke and North Carolina scored 989 on the APR. The three Triangle teams were the only men’s basketball teams in the ACC to receive public recognition awards from the NCAA for their high APR scores.

North Carolina’s honor comes a month after the Tar Heels won the NCAA title with a win over Michigan State in the national final in Detroit.

“It further shows for us that we’re doing things the right way and that across the board we’re pretty competitive in playing, and now this is just another measure that shows that we’re doing the right things academically,” said North Carolina sports information director Steve Kirschner.

Also receiving public recognition in men’s basketball were Davidson with a perfect score of 1,000 and Winthrop with a 986. South Carolina was among 42 Division I men’s basketball teams to receive a scholarship penalty for a low APR.

The Gamecocks were penalized one scholarship as one of four SEC men’s basketball teams to receive penalties. Georgia Tech, which lost two scholarships, was the only ACC men’s basketball team penalized. - Ken Tysiac

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

GT needs a dramatic change in there program. Embarrassing....

Anonymous said...

No, what's really embarrassing is your misuse of the word "there." It should be "their" you dummy. You sound as bright as TV announcer who while doing a GA Tech game called the school Georgia Tech University.

Anonymous said...

"The three Triangle-area men’s basketball teams that capture the nation’s attention"

???

There are only two teams in the triangle that capture national attention, NC State is not one of them. For the rest of the nation, NC State is a team that Duke and UNC play when they're NOT on national television.