The University of Connecticut men's basketball team - last year's national champions - has announced that it cannot meet the new, higher standards for academic performance that the National Collegiate Athletic Association enacted last fall.
A dozen other teams - including Syracuse, this year's top seed, Ohio University and Florida State - are at risk of failing to meet the standard, according to a study released this month by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports.
The new rules have substantially strengthened long-standing NCAA requirements on academic performance. Schools must now ensure that at least half their players are passing courses and moving steadily toward graduation. Teams lose points for each player who drops out, flunks out or transfers after falling behind academically.
I don't see the point of this. They should require all players be passing and heading toward graduation or not enforce the rule at all. They're satisfied with half the players passing? What a joke. It's clearly just for show. If they cared about the future of the students or the image of the NCAA, they'd see to it that all were passing.
