UConn banned from 2013 NCAA Tourney

[Shoreline]

“I'm 100% with Deman on this one!” JJ.

And you can add my unconditional endorsement as well to both Deman’s and JJ’s comments.

It is astonishingly consistent how most flagrant violators of the rules are always the first and loudest to cry persecution. And when it comes to ethics, Jim Calhoun is a lot closer to Jerry Tarkanian and John Calipari then he is to Bill Detrick or Howie Dickenman. Now there is no reason to believe that this philosophy does not impact academics. so it is probably a little premature to lobby for UCONN’s admittance into the Ivy League.

Deman is also correct in the assessment that there are few potential UCONN supporters contributing to this blog. Our affiliation with CCSU, and for some us that goes back to the 1960’s, has made us painfully aware of how Storrs had tried to suck the lifeblood out of the State University system for generations.

In the end, UCONN is emblematic of the economic theology of the past thirty years. We heap the most resources on the few (or in this case the one), turn a blind eye to the rules violations, and then stunningly stand in awe when they achieve the inevitable success.

[Skyhawkct]

"emblematic of the economic theology" Wow...That CLEARLY wasn't written to be understood by most of the guys on the EE basketball team!

[J.J.]

Six members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation wrote a letter Wednesday expressing similar concerns with how the rule was implemented.

''While we understand and support the goals of ensuring quality educational opportunities for student-athletes and the need for strong sanctions for failure to meet those goals, we have misgivings about the retroactive implementation of the penalty,'' the members of Congress wrote. ''In particular, the NCAA appears to have imposed an overly harsh and unfair penalty by imposing APR sanctions retroactively for conduct and circumstances that had already occurred.''

But Bob Williams, an NCAA spokesman, said colleges have known about the standard and penalties since 2006.

''Every other team at the University of Connecticut met the standard,'' Williams said. ''Every other team in the entire Northeast did. So obviously the standard was well known and others met the standard. The real issue is the academic performance of the UConn men's basketball team.''

The NCAA approved rules in October requiring a school have a two-year average score of 930 or a four-year average of 900 on the NCAA's annual Academic Progress Rate, which measures the academic performance of student-athletes, in order to qualify for the 2013 postseason tournament.

Williams said he understands the disappointment over the penalty.

''But the process is inherently fair,'' Williams said. ''They've essentially had since 2006 to ensure that their academic performance was above 900.''

Connecticut's men's basketball program scored 826 for the 2009-10 school year. UConn's score for 2010-11 was 978. That would not be high enough. It would give Connecticut a two-year score of 902 and a four-year score of below 890.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-defen ... um=twitter

[J.J.]

CCSU Men's Soccer is banned from the 2013 postseason. Seems we had too many transfer or something and our APR did not meet the criteria.

So does everyone still think the NCAA is picking on UConn basketball, or are they just enforcing the APR policy (however flawed we may think it is)?

The Central Connecticut State University men's soccer team has been banned from the NCAA Tournament next season because of a non-qualifying APR score. All appeals by CCSU have been denied.

“We accept the decision and will continue to make it a priority to meet all of the APR requirements as set forth by the NCAA,” Director of Athletics Paul Schlickmann said in a press release.

The men's soccer team had an APR score of 899, which is one point shy of the required 900, based on a four-year average beginning in 2010-11. It is the same penalty the UConn men's basketball team was hit with, which bans them from postseason play next year.

CCSU said in the release that the non-qualifying APR score was "largely the result of several student-athletes leaving the men's soccer program during the four-year cohort, in some cases, in the loss of retention and eligibility points towards the team's score."

It also states the grades of the current team members are in good standing.

“Our recent performance in the classroom has been very strong, as our team grade point average continues to show,” Schlickmann said. “The academic success of our student-athletes and adherence to NCAA APR standards is, and always has been, an institutional and departmental priority for Central. Our primary strategic objective is the educational experience of our student-athletes. That is paramount to everything we do.”

The Blue Devils will also be banned from play in the 2012 Northeast Conference Championship.

“We have implemented a specific plan of improvement for the men’s soccer program which has initially proven to be successful,” Schlickmann said. “We have informed the team of the NCAA’s decision and laid out a course of action for their continued academic and competitive success.”

http://www.newbritainherald.com/article ... 202340.txt

[Larryl9797]

Now the question begs to be asked..... Who does a post season ban hurt more. ( not talking form a money perspective obviously)....

Gotta be the mids probably pay for it in talent for a few years....

[J.J.]

A 1-year postseason ban will likely hurt CCSU soccer more than UConn basketball.

UNC-Wilmington of the CAA also lost an appeal of its men's hoop postseason ban for 2013.

The NCAA Committee on Academic Performance passed legislation Thursday that’s expected to help “limited resource schools” make the transition to the new Academic Progress Rate (APR) penalty structure.

As expected, the CAP also denied UNCW’s second – and final – appeal for a penalty waiver, according to athletic director Jimmy Bass.

http://hawkshoops.blogs.starnewsonline. ... al-denied/

[Shoreline]

“Six members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation wrote a letter Wednesday expressing similar concerns with how the rule was implemented.” JJ.

Have the same six members of our Congressional delegation lodged their protest with the NCAA about the banning of our men’s soccer team from post season play?

I cannot seem to find any reference to it in the press.

[Skyhawkct]

It's a sad state of affairs when politicians get involved with "amatuer" college sports. But I'm not surprised. Our then AG Bluementhal tried to take legal action againt BC when they split to join the ACC. Glad to see our elected officials have their priorities straightened out.

Instead of writing to the NCAA, they should be working on out $200,000,000 deficit which, I must add, was caused in part by construction cost overruns at a certain public university, building such necessary items as football stadiums and practice facilities and now...a 500 million dollar university medical school. Oh...I forgot to mention the 50 million dollar PUBLICALLY FUNDED campus of Goodwin College.

[J.J.]

Add Toledo to the list of men's hoops teams banned from the 2013 season.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ---for-now

[J.J.]

As expected, the Connecticut men's basketball team is among the 15 teams banned from postseason play during the 2012-13 academic year because of poor classroom performance. The NCAA released Academic Progress Rates for all Division I athletic programs Wednesday afternoon.

Of the 15, 10 teams banned are men's basketball squads. Connecticut's is the only major-conference program to draw a ban.
...
One in four men's basketball teams in Division I (85 of 344 programs) had four-year APRs beneath the NCAA benchmark of 930, which projects a 50% graduation rate. Among them were UConn (889), Arkansas (894) and LSU (911).

The NCAA is the process of phasing in postseason penalties. This year and next, most teams falling beneath a four-year APR of 900 or a two-year average of 930 are subject to bans. By 2015-16, all teams must hit a four-year average of 930. What the NCAA terms "limited-resource" schools -- most of them HBCUs -- have a more relaxed phase-in leading up to a required four-year average of 930 by 2016-17.

Connecticut had been hoping the NCAA could use a different method of computing APR that included scores from 2011-12 -- which UConn says improved enough to put the Huskies above the two-year benchmark. UConn officials don't expect the ban to be lifted at this point, according to the Associated Press. NCAA officials said they do not expect to make any changes retrospectively, either.

The NCAA said it looked at each program individually, so scores below the current 900 threshold were evaluated independently from one another. When asked about Arkansas' four-year score of 894, NCAA managing director of academic and membership services Diane Dickman said the Razorbacks kept their eligibility because their two-year average is 930. Most of the schools below the threshold were given leeway because they are "limited resource" schools.

A total of 35 teams at 26 different schools drew some kind of APR-related penalty.

Teams with postseason ineligibility for 2012-13:

Men's basketball:

• California State-Bakersfield (still under review)

• Jacksonville State

• Mississippi Valley State

• Texas A&M Corpus Christi

• Towson

• Arkansas-Pine Bluff

• California-Riverside

• Connecticut

• North Carolina-Wilmington

• Toledo

Football

• Hampton

• North Carolina A&T State

• Texas Southern

Men's Soccer

• Central Connecticut State

Men's Wrestling

• Northern Colorado

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... 55713412/1