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NCAA APR Rating Would Have Barred Purdue From 2011 NCAA Tournament

by Travis Miller • Aug 12, 2011 9:35 AM EDT

Yesterday's announcement that the NCAA's new APR rating will ban teams from participating in the NCAA Tournament if their score is below 930 was a stunning announcement, especially for some schools that recently took part in the 2011 Men's Basketball Tournament.

Following up on the retreat's mandate to toughen academic standards, the NCAA Board of Directors voted to ban Division I teams with a four-year academic progress rate (APR) below 930 from participating in the postseason, including all NCAA tournaments and football bowl games.

It's a significant change from the APR structure now in place. Currently, teams with a four-year APR of 925 or below face penalties like loss of scholarships. Only if a team falls below a 900 and is therefore considered a chronic under-performer will it face "historical penalties" including postseason bans.

Now the NCAA will do away with the 900 cutoff, forcing all teams to raise their academic standards or sit on the sidelines in the postseason. Under the new standards, 12 teams would not have qualified for this year's NCAA tournament, including Ohio State and Syracuse.

Among the 12 teams that would not have qualified under the new standard was Purdue. The Boilermakers' four-year score released in May 2010 was 919. It was a temporary dip, however, as a result of the transition from Gene Keady to Matt Painter. Among the 11 4-year players recruited to Purdue from 2003-2006 only three (Keaton Grant, Chris Kramer, and Marcus Green) finished their careers in West Lafayette. Eight players transferred away from Purdue in that time, severely downgrading Purdue's score.

The new score should pout the Boilermakers safely back on the plus side of things. Their 2011 composite score is 954 after its second straight year above 1000. The Boilermakers even received bonus points for Jaraan Cornell returning to complete his degree. Cornell finished his career in 2000, but returned to complete his degree in 2010.

In Bloomington, the Hoosiers face a similar situation after the rash of transfers at the end of the Kelvin Sampson era. Indiana was as low as 866 following the 2006-07 season, but now have a four year score of 929. the Hoosiers will dramatically improve once the 2006-07 score 811 is removed following the coming season.