How The New APR Rule Could Affect College Basketball

In case you hadn't heard, the NCAA has enacted a new rule that says schools must have an APR of 930, or they are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. From ESPN:

The NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors on Thursday unanimously approved the idea that college sports teams not carrying at least a 930 Academic Progress Rate averaged over four years will soon be barred from postseason competition. That means a raising of the bar of academic requirements teams will need to meet in order to go dancing in the NCAA tournament or any other sport's NCAA-sanctioned postseason.

So Rush The Court took a look at how the NCAA Tournament would have looked if this rule had been in place this season. Needless to say, it is interesting.

Alabama State was given a 16-seed and a ticket to Dayton for the First Four after winning the SWAC Tournament. Their APR of 907 would have DQ’d them from the NCAA, so the spot would go to Texas Southern. Actually, it wouldn’t, because of their 890 APR. So, if we keep going down the SWAC standings until we find an APR-acceptable school, we land at 9th-place Alcorn State (4-24, 4-14) and its 944 rating — the only SWAC school above the NCAA’s APR demarcator. Congrats, Braves. You and your four wins would have been dancing last season.

Bravo to the NCAA for requiring colleges to be a bit more diligent in making sure that players are students first, athletes second. Let's hope it causes teams to get their act together.