Of the 15, 10 teams banned are men's basketball squads. Connecticut's is the only major-conference program to draw a ban.
Each of the 15 teams also drew additional penalties ranging from practice restrictions - losing four hours of practice one day each week, with that time required to be spent instead on "academic activities" - to scholarship reductions, further practice restrictions and recruiting and other coaching restrictions.
"I believe very strongly that this is a game-changer," NCAA Committee on Academic Performance chairman Walter Harrison said on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. "It sends a message to our teams and to our critics that we mean business. Teams need to take care of (academic) things first things first, or they won't be able to play in the postseason. Those teams not eligible for the postseason need to think hard about who they recruit and how they support their student-athletes."
The most recent APR scores -- what NCAA president Mark Emmert referred to as a "report card" on the call -- are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.
One in four men's basketball teams in Division I (85 of 344 programs) had four-year APRs beneath the NCAA benchmark of 930, which projects a 50% graduation rate. Among them were UConn (889), Arkansas (894) and LSU (911).
The NCAA is the process of phasing in postseason penalties. This year and next, most teams falling beneath a four-year APR of 900 or a two-year average of 930 are subject to bans. By 2015-16, all teams must hit a four-year average of 930. What the NCAA terms "limited-resource" schools -- most of them HBCUs -- have a more relaxed phase-in leading up to a required four-year average of 930 by 2016-17.
Connecticut had been hoping the NCAA could use a different method of computing APR that included scores from 2011-12 -- which UConn says improved enough to put the Huskies above the two-year benchmark. UConn officials don't expect the ban to be lifted at this point, according to the Associated Press. NCAA officials said they do not expect to make any changes retrospectively, either.
The NCAA said it looked at each program individually, so scores below the current 900 threshold were evaluated independently from one another. When asked about Arkansas' four-year score of 894, NCAA managing director of academic and membership services Diane Dickman said the Razorbacks kept their eligibility because their two-year average is 930. Most of the schools below the threshold were given leeway because they are "limited resource" schools.
A total of 35 teams at 26 different schools drew some kind of APR-related penalty.
"Winning on the court or on the field is important," Harrison said, "but the most important thing to all of us is those student-athletes finishing their degrees."
On the positive side, NCAA runner-up Kansas, Sweet 16 qualifier Lehigh and five other NCAA men's basketball tournament teams (Belmont, Memphis, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas) were among 11 men's basketball programs that scored a perfect 1000.
Northwestern and FCS member Davidson led football, both with scores of 995. Boise State and Duke each had a 989. Ohio State had a 988.
Other notes from the data:
? The 10 men's basketball teams that received postseason bans had four-year APRs ranging from 865-890. The NCAA said that in one case, Cal State Bakersfield, the data still is under review.
? Eight FBS football programs were beneath 930, including Louisville (911), UTEP (911) and Louisiana-Monroe (917). Oklahoma State fell just beneath the benchmark at 928.
Teams with postseason ineligibility for 2012-13:
Men's basketball:
? California State-Bakersfield (still under review)
? Jacksonville State
? Mississippi Valley State
? Texas A&M Corpus Christi
? Towson
? Arkansas-Pine Bluff
? California-Riverside
? Connecticut
? North Carolina-Wilmington
? Toledo
Football
? Hampton
? North Carolina A&T State
? Texas Southern
Men's Soccer
? Central Connecticut State
Men's Wrestling
? Northern Colorado
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomCollegeSports-TopStories/~3/ZgaL50mYhaM/1
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