By now you've probably heard that UConn has applied for a waiver to be eligible for the 2013 NCAA tournament. Here's the AP story, which details the school's numerous suggested self-imposed sanctions, including cutting next year's schedule from 27 to 23 games and keeping Jim Calhoun from meeting prospective recruits during the 2012 fall recruiting season.
Not sure if the NCAA will buy this, but it's certainly possible. It is also likely UConn's last recourse to be eligible for next year's Big Dance (this year's, of course, is an entirely different story).
The school is hoping the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance changes its APR-reporting calendar. Currently, scores from the 2009-10 (an 826) and 2010-11 (about a 975) are used to determine the two-year rolling average. Susan Herbst (and many others) would like more recent scores (2010-11 and 2011-12) to be used, figuring that current players shouldn't be punished for past players' academic failings.
But according to committee chairman Walter Harrison, “There are lots of reasons why that’s going to be incredibly difficult.”
At issue: the fact that, while semester-system schools like UConn are able to report their APR scores in early September, there are many schools – particularly on the West Coast – that are on a four-quarter system, don't begin their school year until late-September/early-October, and would need more time to report their scores.
That could leave a very short window for such schools to report their APR scores, have the NCAA check them, and still have time to apply for a waiver if necessary – all in time to announce penalties well-ahead of March Madness.
Such a system would also treat fall sports differently than winter sports. Obviously, fall sports like football and soccer would still have to use, for instance, scores from '09-10 and '10-11 to determine postseason eligibility for 2012.
“The question of how we do all that is what we’re trying to figure out,” said Harrison. “The big issues are: can we do it fast enough, and is it fair to treat winter and spring sports different than fall and announce them differently.”
Harrison’s committee discussed the issue “for about a half-hour, 45 minutes” at its last meeting a few weeks ago and will discuss it further on Feb. 20. It’s possible no decision will still be reached by then, and it would be broached again at an April meeting.
Unless the committee decides to change its APR calendar, penalties will be announced some time in May.
*** Meanwhile, Jim Calhoun will miss Saturday's game at Syracuse (as expected) as he continues to battle spinal stenosis. Calhoun is scheduled to meet with specialists over the next few days to determine the best course of treatment.
“I’m feeling better, but as of now, I wouldn’t be able to coach,” Calhoun said Tuesday. “I’m trying to get the best assessment in order to find the best solution.”
*** Oh, and there's this: Jerome Dyson has been named a D-League All-Star. He'll represent the West Team at the game on Feb. 25 at NBA All-Star Jam Session in Orlando. The game will air live on NBA TV at 2 p.m.
Here are the teams:
West Team: Justin Dentmon and Lance Thomas (Austin Toros), currently a member of the New Orleans Hornets; Brandon Costner, Gerald Green, and Elijah Millsap (Los Angeles D-Fenders); Blake Ahearn and Andre Emmett (Reno Bighorns); Greg Smith (Rio Grande Valley Vipers); and Jerome Dyson and Marcus Lewis (Tulsa 66ers).
East Team: Tyrell Biggs (Canton Charge); Edwin Ubiles (Dakota Wizards); Keith McLeod (Erie BayHawks); Darnell Lazare and Walker Russell, Jr. (Fort Wayne Mad Ants), currently a member of the Detroit Pistons; Marqus Blakely (Iowa Energy); Charles Garcia (Sioux Falls Skyforce); and JamesOn Curry, Jeff Foote, and Jerry Smith (Springfield Armor).
Showing posts with label Walt Harrison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walt Harrison. Show all posts
Countering a report by USA Today, NCAA president Mark Emmert assured that teams with substandard Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores will not be ineligible to compete in the 2012 NCAA tournament.
Emmert said there was a “miscommunication” in his speech to the Knight Commission on Interscholastic Athletics on Monday in Washington, D.C., in which he was quoted as saying that teams that have fallen short of the 900 APR threshold could be banned from this season’s Big Dance, depending on a vote by the NCAA board of directors on Friday. That, of course, would have included UConn, whose four-year rolling average – released in May – is 893.
However, UConn isn’t out of the woods yet. Emmert stated that the postseason penalty would likely take effect for the 2013 tournament. Although UConn’s APR number is expected to be vastly improved for the 2010-11 season – in the 950-970 range, according to a source – it won’t be enough to lift the Huskies’ four-year rolling average above 900.
That would mean UConn wouldn’t be able to compete in the 2013 NCAA tournament, unless it successfully applied for a waiver.
Currently, teams can be granted waivers if considerable progress has been shown in improving its academic situation. However, Walt Harrison, chairman of the committee on academic performance and president of the University of Hartford, said in August that waivers may not be granted so freely anymore.
“The direction I'm getting from the board is not too much leverage there,” Harrison said two months ago. “If there is any appeal at all, it is going to be tightly defined and there may not be any.”
UConn president Susan Herbst, however, hopes that the recent steps the school has taken to improve the academics of all of its athletic programs – under her leadership – would be taken into account.
“Probably the most important thing is that the president is involved,” she said. “I think that’s happening more and more around the country, (presidents) getting involved with faculty and coaches, getting student-athletes the right time and place to study, support from faculty to travel and myriad of other things.”
Upon taking over as school president in June, Herbst created a President’s Athletic Advisory Committee, comprised by some of the university’s most well-respected faculty members. The committee has implemented a plan aimed to improve UConn’s APR in men’s basketball – and, indeed, for all sports – moving forward.
The five-point plan looks to make sure players who leave to turn pro are academically eligible when they depart; encourage former players who have exhausted their eligibility to return to complete their degrees through the National Consortium for Academic and Sport Degree Completion program; require all players to enroll in a minimum of nine credit hours during summer school; provide enhanced academic support services in the summer prior to and the fall semester of a player’s freshman year; and, decrease the number of players who transfer with eligibility remaining.
While it’s obviously too early for these new guidelines to have had much of an effect on UConn’s current APR situation, there have already been some tangible signs of progress. UConn’s APR for the 2010-11 hasn’t been completely calculated yet due to a couple of working points, but it should wind up in the 950-970 range.
“One of the things I bring is a strong interest in faculty monitoring success in the athletic department, a very good, devoted faculty who has high standards and also love sports,” Herbst said. “That’s the kind of faculty member I was.”
Emmert said there was a “miscommunication” in his speech to the Knight Commission on Interscholastic Athletics on Monday in Washington, D.C., in which he was quoted as saying that teams that have fallen short of the 900 APR threshold could be banned from this season’s Big Dance, depending on a vote by the NCAA board of directors on Friday. That, of course, would have included UConn, whose four-year rolling average – released in May – is 893.
However, UConn isn’t out of the woods yet. Emmert stated that the postseason penalty would likely take effect for the 2013 tournament. Although UConn’s APR number is expected to be vastly improved for the 2010-11 season – in the 950-970 range, according to a source – it won’t be enough to lift the Huskies’ four-year rolling average above 900.
That would mean UConn wouldn’t be able to compete in the 2013 NCAA tournament, unless it successfully applied for a waiver.
Currently, teams can be granted waivers if considerable progress has been shown in improving its academic situation. However, Walt Harrison, chairman of the committee on academic performance and president of the University of Hartford, said in August that waivers may not be granted so freely anymore.
“The direction I'm getting from the board is not too much leverage there,” Harrison said two months ago. “If there is any appeal at all, it is going to be tightly defined and there may not be any.”
UConn president Susan Herbst, however, hopes that the recent steps the school has taken to improve the academics of all of its athletic programs – under her leadership – would be taken into account.
“Probably the most important thing is that the president is involved,” she said. “I think that’s happening more and more around the country, (presidents) getting involved with faculty and coaches, getting student-athletes the right time and place to study, support from faculty to travel and myriad of other things.”
Upon taking over as school president in June, Herbst created a President’s Athletic Advisory Committee, comprised by some of the university’s most well-respected faculty members. The committee has implemented a plan aimed to improve UConn’s APR in men’s basketball – and, indeed, for all sports – moving forward.
The five-point plan looks to make sure players who leave to turn pro are academically eligible when they depart; encourage former players who have exhausted their eligibility to return to complete their degrees through the National Consortium for Academic and Sport Degree Completion program; require all players to enroll in a minimum of nine credit hours during summer school; provide enhanced academic support services in the summer prior to and the fall semester of a player’s freshman year; and, decrease the number of players who transfer with eligibility remaining.
While it’s obviously too early for these new guidelines to have had much of an effect on UConn’s current APR situation, there have already been some tangible signs of progress. UConn’s APR for the 2010-11 hasn’t been completely calculated yet due to a couple of working points, but it should wind up in the 950-970 range.
“One of the things I bring is a strong interest in faculty monitoring success in the athletic department, a very good, devoted faculty who has high standards and also love sports,” Herbst said. “That’s the kind of faculty member I was.”
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