San Diego State shares the fifth lowest Academic Progress Rate among the 68 teams in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, despite a small improvement from last year, according to a study released Monday.
The Aztecs have a 939 Academic Progress Rate, as does Southern Methodist University. The teams with lower rates are Coastal Carolina (910), Arkansas (937); and North Carolina and Robert Morris (938), according to "Keeping Score When It Counts: Graduation Rates and Academic Progress Rates for the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Teams," a study conducted by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, based on figures reported by the NCAA.
San Diego State had a 935 Academic Progress Rate a year ago, tying for the 10th lowest.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from San Diego State.
There were five teams with a perfect scores of 1,000 — Belmont, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, and Texas. Kansas was the only team with a perfect score last year.
Duke, Northern Iowa and Notre Dame all had rates of 995. The rest of the top 10 consisted of Lafayette (994) and Davidson (990).
Pre-tournament favorite Kentucky was 11th at 989.
The Academic Progress Rate was created by the NCAA in 2004 in an effort to more accurately measure student-athletes' progress and improve graduation rates.
The rate is a four-year average of academic performance that rewards student-athletes for remaining eligible as well as continuing education at the same school. Every player receiving an athletic scholarship earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team's total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to determine the Academic Progress Rate.
