If you're REALLY interested in this, here is how APR is calculated:

* The APR is computed by assigning eligibility (1 point) and continuing as a full-time student or graduating (1 point) to each student-athlete on athletics aid for each academic term. The squad APR is the total number of points earned divided by the maximum number of points possible. The APR number is then multiplied by 1,000 for ease of reference.

* For example, if the team calculation is determined to be .925, the APR would be 925. APR is based on a term-by-term measurement and will eventually be based on a four-year rolling average.

* Basically, points are earned based on the answers to two questions: a) Is a student-athlete eligible for the next term or did they graduate? (1 point); b) Is the student-athlete returning? (1 point)

* Teams lose points if student-athletes leave early to turn pro, transfer, drop out or dip below the minimum GPA to remain eligible.

* Teams receive bonus points if student-athletes who have left school return at a later time to earn their degree.

heather--i don't know for sure, but it looks like a huge number of historic black colleges are on the list. if so, nice job, ncaa, you're penalizing/singling out historic black colleges. way to go, morons...

For his sake, I really hope MJ and DJ get drafted so Gary can call the NCAA and tell them "what a bunch of ********* ********** ******* they are and they look like ********** ******* ********* *********. You have 2 great kids making a minimum of $550k next year and you ********* ****** make a ********* mockery of the **************," It really love to hear that voice mail on You Tube.

Singling out black colleges?? Are you serious? Everyone is under the same rules. It doesn't matter if they are black, white, purple, or green. There are over 70 schools on this list and just because some are historic black colleges then its the NCAA being racist? Believe it or not, everything in the world is not about race. These are colleges. Institutes of higher learning, and now since some traditional black schools are on the list along with traditional white schools, the NCAA is trying to penalize just the black colleges on the list? Makes sense...

Oh no! Years of systematically not graduating players are about to come back and haunt the Terps! The point of COLLEGE basketball is for student athletes to attend college. What is the point of college? To GRADUATE. If players don't graduate, the program should be penalized. Otherwise, something besides scholarships should be used to pay the athletes.

Heather: If athletes like the two Maryland basketball players - notice I do not call them student-athletes - know when they are seniors in high school, that they are only interested in playing one or two more years, and then "going pro", then they should go to a two year type of "higher learning."
Stop protecting Gary Williams and other coaches like him. It is time for great universities to stop being professional minor leagues for professional franchises. If Gary Williams can not coach outstanding student-athletes to be ACC contenders, then stop treating him like he is a coaches God. He is no better and no worse than many, many high school coaches in the country. Sports writers and sportscasters constantly criticize the NCAA for not taking strong action to stop the continuing corruption of "college" athletics. When they actually take some real action, all of you start protecting the "managers" of that corruption. Get some maturity in your brain.

heather,

What are we hearing from the coaches around the country? This adds pressure to their situation...please the alumni by winning games or be fired...and please the academics and the NCAA and get real student-athletes? Especially in basketball where it is not in the best interest for some players to stay more then 2 years. I don't want to fault the Durants of the world who were forced to go to school by the NBA since they are not allowed to go into the draft due to age. However, they will hurt the schools they attend if they do not finish out the year. I just see basketball is totally different from all the other sports. Football has more players attend for four years due to red shirt years. baseball players play 3 yrs at least in college and finish out the semester due to the length of their seasons.

it is nice to graduate kids and let them get educations, but should schools now move away from recruiting the "riskier" kids...inner city or poor kids who may jump ship for the money?

Its a shame that basketball season doesn't run through the spring semester, that way, players couldn't leave until the semester is over and we avoid the issues like Strawberry and Jones.

Who can blame both of them for what they're doing though? They can always come back and get a degree.

Anyone who thinks all athletes should stay at school for four years and get a degree is kidding themselves. The reality is that there is an incredible incentive for kids to leave early whether its football, basketball or even soccer (where MD has had some guys leave early and go high in the MLS draft).

In a perfect world, every freshman would get their degree, but in reality both athletes and non athletes end up dropping out before graduating. I'm not entirely sure how to address the situation, but punishing teams for something that isn't under their control seems like a bad solution to the "problem".

I'm enjoying the blog, keep up the good work Heather.

I did a rough calculation of this. If MD has a 3 year averge of 908, they have to score 975 next year to avoid sanctions (and achieve a 4yr avg of 925). Basically that's getting all but 3 or 4 points out of 48 (assuming we have 12 guys). Gist and Boom can't both leave early and everbody else just has to stay afloat. I think that's doable, especially in regards to Gist, who people say is relatively serious about school.

Again, this is a rough calculation. Too bad its such a close call though.

Actually, now that I think about it, when you include the squad sized adjustment for the preious three years but not next year, there is probably very little danger of the terps losing 'ships.

Does this jeopardize the recruiting class incoming for this fall or the year after?

If it's THIS fall, what does that do to a freshman's LOI?

CRAIG ... No, the NCAA said it doesn't want to yank a schollie from a kid who has already been promised one. Schools are expected to comply with the sanction as soon as they can, though.

LOL @ anyone who thinks the NCAA will ever allow this to affect a major college basketball program.

Ralph would be all over any of his players well before they found themselves in a situation like Chris McCray's. Gary seemed to just shrug it off stating it was McCray's responsibility.

So this situation appears just rewards for Gary -- though we all will suffer. He has never taken this aspect seriously. The athletic department has done everything it could to get Gary to provide more oversite -- contract incentives and the like. About six months ago, I noticed a small article on the back page of the sports section where the athletic department announced it was going to take full control of b-ball academic support. He'll get serious now and everyone will benefit. However he's dug a big hole and it will take a few years (and scholarships) to dig out.

No WillClark the point of college is not always to graduate. It is to better position yourself for the future. These athletes are going to make the most money playing basketball, so they should do whatever possible to help that make a possibility.

Mike Jones and DJ Strawberry have only a few years in which they can make a decent living off a basketball career. If that means leaving college early to do so, that is what they have to do. A college degree does very little for them right now. They can always go back to college, but they can't always play basketball to make a living.

As long as they stay academically eligible, why should the University be penalized if they want to leave early?

So when the Bill Gates Jr drops out to start Microsoft II, his school's Science dept better be pulling a 975 or it loses an academic scholly somewhere down the line, right?... oh wait, they're student-scientists, not student-atheletes, my bad.
However, if you coach at a school (unlike MD) that is willing to soften the curriculum to 'enhance' academic eligibility (the 3 year degree, the online course, the Harrick Jr. exam...) can you use that as a recruiting tool? A simplistic curriculum seems to be the easiest way to avoid this penalty.

I worked my way through college. I would dare say that the amount of work that I did during my college years pales in comparison to the amount o work DJ and Mike Jones have done for the University. It took me seven years to graduate. I chose to go to a state school so that I could pay rent and tuition and graduate from college debt free. I'm happy with the choices that I made. I met other students at Maryland that were on the same program that I was on. In fact I followed the same program that my father followed getting his degree from Maryland. If I had chosen to go to a private school and run up a large amount of debt while graduating in four years what would I have accomplished? There are many types of schools and students in the world so I think that by applying a single standard the NCAA is discrimnating unwisely against low tuition schools.

The guys who will be hurt by this are the Elliotts, Neal's, Badu's and Walkers. Not the Coachs, not the starters. It's the 11th and 12 th guys on the bench.