<p>Maybe there are some Terps fans out there who can explain this.<br>
The University of Maryland basketball team has an 8% graduation rate. Somehow, I doubt that 92% of their players are going to the NBA early.</p>
<p>[Celizic:</a> Time for NCAA to get serious about education - College basketball- nbcsports.msnbc.com](<a href=“NBC Sports - news, scores, stats, rumors, videos, and more”>NBC Sports - news, scores, stats, rumors, videos, and more)</p>
<p>Assuming this is for some time period 8-10 years ago, as many of these studies seem to be, many of Maryland’s players would have made the NBA. 8% suggests that 1/12 players graduated, which also suggests that it doesn’t exclude transfers and NBA players (which is unfair). The thing about basketball is that it doesn’t take many individuals to screw up the team total.</p>
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<p>No chance of that. It’s incredibly unlikely that Maryland has any more than 3 players make the NBA on average (and even that is a gross exaggeration.) The NBA component could account for, at very most, 25% of those who fail to graduate.</p>
<p>I just googled “Maryland basketball graduation rate” and up came an article in the Washington Post from 2007. They claim that the graduation rate from 1997-2000 was ZERO. Not one basketball player who enrolled between 1997 and 2000 had graduted 6 years after enrollment.
So I guess 8% is an improvement? :eek:</p>
<p>Players are recruited to play basketball, and they go to college to play basketball. Why would you expect them to graduate?</p>
<p>After all, the most intense competition, the most sought after players, are the ones who will be “one and done.” They know that coming in - how ridiculous is that?</p>
<p>Maybe they leave because they can’t wait to get away from Gary Williams. It’s hard living in the same state with him.</p>
<p>Cal only has a 20% graduation rate for its basketball team? Wow, that’s pretty terrible.</p>
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<p>Yeah, when I saw you report 8%, my first thought was, “wow, Maryland’s improving!” :rolleyes:</p>
<p>To be fair, graduation rate is a tough number to evaluate (though 8% does look very bad) since it can really be on the whims of the individual students who either go pro (quite difficult and rare to make it to the NBA, though), transfer schools, leave school because of financial concerns (have to support family, etc), or just don’t care about getting a diploma.</p>
<p>Instead the NCAA uses a formula called the APR, which measures how well schools keep players academically eligible and on track toward a diploma per semester. This is supposed to less penalize schools where players leave for those above reasons, rather than not being able or close to graduation if the player wanted to.</p>
<p>If the APR is low enough for a few years, the NCAA will take away scholarships in that sport from that school.</p>
<p>Who cares? Recruited basketball players most likely would never have passed the curriculum anyway. That’s what happens when you let in players that are in no way suited to the academic environment.</p>
<p>Mr Payne, I care. It’s a shame on our system that these young boys get the idea that they will have their life taken care of if they just make enough baskets - and then we reward them for that idea, and then discard them after 4 years of elligilibility with no degree and not many job prospects.<br>
So, should we toughen up the requirements - say make the team graduate at least 60%, or go with a semi-pro league like hockey so the kids who don’t give a darn about school can move along into the pro system?</p>
<p>What many people do not realize is that U of Maryland has a much improved academically competitive student body. That makes it even harder for dumb but very talented athletes to make it there. You can argue that those players are merely taking up the spaces of smarter students who would otherwise attend, but a good basketball team can be the best form of advertising for a college.</p>
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<p>Exactly. Except that those kids are used and discarded without ever really getting an education. Many aren’t ready for college level classes, practices take up the time an under-prepared kid could have used for tutoring, etc. The system stinks. It doesn’t matter tha UMaryland has a smarter than average student body, their BB players (and those at most DI schools) couldn’t make it at a third or fourth or seventh rate school. They are set up for failure and the NCAA doesn’t care. It’s all about the money.</p>
<p>Wow, I guess people don’t like analyzing data themselves, and just let the media do the work for them.</p>
<p>As a UMD grad, and parent of a current UMD student, and proud fan of Terp Basketball, I was appalled at the report as well. But then I did a little research beyond the standard “look at the first 5 links on Google” search (which all just repeated the same story from the Washington Post or commented on it.</p>
<p>First, the data used was for the incoming classes from 2000 - 2003. Old data, which I allow as it does make a point. But they forgot to add that this was the period when the Terps went to the Final Four twice, and won a National Championship. And you know what? 9 of the 12 players who were the ones eligible to measure for Graduation either left early to play professional basketball (sorry, tetrehedr0n, but you’re assumption was incorrect) and two of the 12 transferred in order to get more playing time (they decided that would rather transfer than ride the bench, because the rest of the team WAS that good). </p>
<p>Now, these kids, given the opportunity to make a few hundred K a year either in the NBA or in Europe jumped at the chance. I guess they aren’t as successful in life choices as some here would like, but hey they’re probably made a bit more in their 20s than most Ivy League grads. </p>
<p>I also saw that several went on AFTER they left to earn their degree, but not in the 6 year time limit form entering college that was used as a measuring stick by the study. </p>
<p>So, my conclusions: Maryland was lucky to have a very talented pool of Basketball players those years, who did very well on the collegiate level. Because they were very talented and did so well, almost everyone was able to play basketball at the professional level. Those who weren’t at that level transferred (which, due to another of the studies parameters, was used Against the team as a measure of Graduation rate). </p>
<p>Now I know some of you might also say, “So what. Maryland puts it’s basketball program over the welfare of it’s student athletes!” And if the grad rate was the same now, I’d have to agree. But if you used the same measuring stick for these last few years as was used in 2000 - 2003, you’ll see that Maryland’s graduation rate is now about 85% (10 of 12, to include ALL FOUR seniors graduating this year). </p>
<p>here’s UMD’s response on the issue:</p>
<p>[Maryland</a> Athletics - University of Maryland Official Athletic Site - Men’s Basketball](<a href=“http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031810aab.html]Maryland”>http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031810aab.html) </p>
<p>Bottom Line: Yeah, the 2000 - 2003 sound bite DOES sound bad. But if you actually took the time to look deeper, you’ll see there are reasons for the statistic (and remember what they say about truth, lies, and statistics). But if you want to actually be fair, you need to also examine recent history and see if Maryland has made attempts to improve. I think the facts speak for themselves that they have…</p>
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<p>Not to dispute that, but there is some evidence that if they did care, a lot of players could make it through.</p>
<p>For example, at Fresno State, which last decade had the worst graduation rate in football in the country (literally, ranked last), managed to dig out of that pit to get somewhat respectable:</p>
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<p>Sure, it’s “Fresno State” and their graduation rate could still be higher, but it’s worth pointing out that Cal football also adopted this program (with some success also), and I’m happy to hear that the creator of this program (John Baxter) was just hired at USC.</p>
<p>At minimum, a lot of these terrible graduation rates and APR scores could come up a bit, if only the programs cared about it.</p>