NCAA Releases Academic Progress Rate Reports, Lacrosse Goes Unscathed

Last year, Providence and Detroit fell victim to the dreaded Academic Progress Rate ("APR") Scholarship Reduction Fairy:

• The Friars felt the shame of a 0.95 scholarship reduction, probably because SparkNotes isn't an equivalent to doing the syllabus' required reading.
• The Titans took a worse beating, absorbing a 1.26 scholarship reduction (the maximum penalty), but managed to avoid a historic penalty because they nodded their head in shame and apologized to Mr. McGuillicutty for cutting chemistry class or something.

Despite having the second-worst APR score in the country, Jacksonville managed to avoid receiving an immediate penalty as its face was too fresh and didn't have the sufficient level of cohort data to subject it to the NCAA's scholarship pruning shears. You'd think that with three schools -- about five percent of Division I, for what it's worth -- recently having trouble moving players into positions to get degrees and become thousandaires that the nation would take notice and get their houses in order.

Well, aren't you a genius, Mr. Genius Logic Guy. (Sort of.)

With the release of this period's APR reports (these measured the academic year 2010-2011 cohort), no Division I men's programs suffered penalties -- be it scholarship reductions, postseason bans, or otherwise -- from the NCAA this year. This doesn't necessarily mean that all 61 teams in the division are in good shape:

• Detroit, with a score of 898, is dodging penalties on two counts: (1) It's avoiding a postseason ban based on a squad size adjustment; and (2) They're dodging other penalties based on a a similar squad size adjustment. This is decidedly a "Default!" victory for the Titans to escape without a black mark despite putting in another less-than-stellar effort in the classroom.
• Jacksonville is sitting just above the 900 cut-off (901). This is a program that hasn't exactly soared the last few years in the APR department and need to keep reading books and stuff.

In other words, get it together, knuckleheads. (Hell, the Friars improved to a 942 this season.)

There were four schools -- Bucknell, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, and Villanova -- that posted perfect marks. They will receive a free Chinese buffet to recognize their efforts.