NCAA Releases APR Scores, Men's Lacrosse Aces Test

The NCAA released its latest iteration of the APR -- "Academic Progress Report," not "All Pants: Revolting" -- and there's good news: No Division I men's lacrosse team is taking a penalty for failing to progress academically (which, as academic progress goes, is a good thing). The even better news? Four schools -- Bucknell, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Villanova -- earned perfect APR scores. (Six schools earned the distinction last year.) Those are the schools you want to beat up for their lunch money after you give them wedgies for being total nerds.

Men's lacrosse did well in the overall, finishing 11th overall in four-year APR average (975), right in the middle of men's sports. When also considering the length of the college lacrosse season and when it falls on the calendar (not to mention the fall ball period that takes players out of the classroom), men's lacrosse did a hell of a job getting its constituents toward degree. Importantly, men's lacrosse is trending in the right direction with its APR scores, having an average score of 973 in the 2007-2008 cohort and finishing the 2012-201 cohort with a 977 score. (Men's lacrosse's highest average score came in 2011-2012 when it achieved a 980 mark, resulting in a three point drop from 2011-2012 to 2012-2013.)  More importantly, however, is that eligibility and retention in men's lacrosse has increased at almost the same rate as the sport's APR scores (although, the retention rate in men's lacrosse lags behind a handful of other men's sports despite the gains it has made).

There are some other notable aspects to the various reports:

• For the 2012-2013 cohort, Division I men's lacrosse saw 0.7 percent of its constituency made up of two-year college transfers (this is the third lowest among men's sports); 3.7 percent of its transfers went from four-year schools to other four-year schools (this is fifth lowest among men's sports). These were very small increases form the 2011-2012 cohort, but transfers still comprise a very small percentage of Division I rosters.
• No team put up lower than a 930 in this cohort, the absolute baseline for achievement without potentially creating problems with penalties and postseason bans. Only VMI (930) and Mercer (938) failed to achieve at least a 940 on this report.