Huskies, 9 Other Schools Face APR Ban

As expected, the UConn men's basketball team earned an APR score of 978 for the 2010-11 academic year. Also as expected, the previous four-year average (that was below 900) will keep the Huskies out of postseason play in 2013, despite the school's best efforts to appeal the ruling to the NCAA. If nothing else, it's a lesson learned (the hard way) but the message appears to have sunken in. The team's 2011-12 APR score should meet or exceed 978. For now, there's reason to celebrate.

The Huskies aren't the only basketball program in this situation, just the most prominent. The other nine schools included: Jacksonville State, Towson, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Toledo, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California-Riverside and California State-Bakersfield are all expected to miss the 2013 postseason.

"Our men's basketball team had an outstanding APR score for the 2010-11 season and I want to congratulate the student-athletes, Coach Calhoun and the rest of the coaching staff for that accomplishment," UConn Athletic Director Warde Manuel said according to the school's website. "I think it is particularly noteworthy that they accomplished this during an academic year when they won an NCAA championship. The men's basketball team will have another outstanding academic year in 2011-12."

Manuel adds that while there's reason to be excited by the program's academic progress, the university isn't done fighting for the chance to participate in the conference and NCAA tournaments next spring.

"It doesn't mean we are going to roll over and just accept it and not talk about it," he said. "... I feel we have to react to this in the process. And that's why I'm so frustrated that the process of the NCAA was accelerated and didn't give us time. But we are a member of the NCAA and we are part of the process."

Next month, the NCAA's Committee on Academic Performance is expected to discuss UConn's situation, perhaps concluding that the progress in 2010-11 is such that it should be included in the four-year average, in which case the Huskies would avoid the one-year postseason ban. Realistically, this isn't expected to happen. Either way, Manuel says legal action isn't an option.

“Any team that’s ineligible would be a huge loss to the tournament, particularly a program like Connecticut,” Dan Gavitt, a Big East associate commissioner, told the New York Times. But there appears to be a silver lining: SNY analyst Tim Welsh told the Times that he didn't think the sanctions would affect recruiting.

“These kids work hard and won’t have that opportunity that every other team has had in the past, and none of it is their fault,” he said.

Gavitt adds: “I think the bigger story is that many basketball programs could be in jeopardy in the future. I think the change is going to have a dramatic impact."

For UConn, that already appears to be the case.

The Huskies aren't the only basketball program in this situation, just the most prominent. The other nine schools included: Jacksonville State, Towson, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Toledo, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California-Riverside and California State-Bakersfield are all expected to miss the 2013 postseason.

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