Last week, the NCAA released a list of the programs that will lose scholarships under its new Academic Progress Rate. Pat Forde quips:
This is a little like the old 1980s compliance joke, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it’s going to give Cleveland State three more years’ probation.”
Indeed, the list given by the NCAA lists no programs that most people would consider to be a major program in either football or men’s basketball (the money sports). Cynics would argue that the NCAA is going to tread a bit more lightly when it comes to disciplining, say, UNC’s basketball program or the Ohio State University’s football program. Consistently excluding such teams from post season play sends signals that could conceivably lower the value of the NCAA tournament or the Bowl Championship Series to media providers while excluding the Prairie View A&M’s of the world sends no such signal.
One could also argue that the traditional powers get the best and the brightest recruits anyways, leaving the rest for the non-powers, so an unintended consequence of the APR is further entrenching of the elite.
TSE readers, what’s your take on this? Is this a case of “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it’s going to give Cleveland State three more years’ probation.”
