The feared became reality yesterday when the NCAA released the annual APR report (PDF), handing the Buckeye basketball program a righteously-named "Contemporaneous Penalty". The term roughly translates to "the NBA likes your big dudes too much" and the score of 911 they earned for the preceding four academic years will result in a loss of two scholarships for the upcoming season.
Oh, snap!The APR is no easy thing to wrap your head around, but if I understand things correctly (and Unverified Hippieacity might well call into question our credibility if I'm wrong), the important bits are:
- Each scholarship player can earn two points per term: one for remaining academically eligible and one for staying in school.
- A team's multiyear APR score is calculated by taking the total points earned and then dividing it by the total possible points. And then multiplying that by 1,000. Because non-whole numbers are scary.
- 925 is the score you want to beat to avoid penalties. This roughly translates to a 50% graduation rate.
What hurt the Buckeyes were so-called "0-for-2" infractions out of Greg Oden in 2007 and Kosta Koufos last year. After Oden's early departure was part of a 909 in last year's report, the NCAA accepted an academic improvement plan submitted by Ohio State which included further tutor resources (including road trips) and the program avoided any type of penalties. This year's report included the Koufos whammy and and the resulting loss of scholarships.
From a recruiting perspective, the loss of the two scholarships guarantees the Buckeyes won't be getting that miracle commit from a prep point guard not named John Wall as the 11 remaining scholarships are all spoken for this season.
Next year looks painful as well considering the team will take a hit for Noopy Crater's transfer and lose one or two points depending on whether B.J. Mullens left Ohio State in good academic standing. Help is on the way, however, as the school will be moving from quarters to a semester-based system in time for 2012. Players working out for the draft won't have to worry about classes as the first semester will be in the books (and 50% of their eligible academic standings points instead of the 33% the completion of the first quarter currently provides).
While the 911 the basketball team put up ranks in the 20th-30th percentile within the sport, the football team checked in with a score of 968, good enough for the 80th-90th percentile nationally (also good enough for third in the Big Ten behind Penn State and Northwestern). And though men's basketball was the only sport penalized at Ohio State, the men's fencing and women's field hockey teams actually ranked lower within their respective sports (and both sports perform high on average at the national level). Any fencing insiders have the dish?
Finally. The Buckeyes have offered defensive end William Gholston, cousin of Jake Long destroyer and Buckeye legend Vernon. Rivals has the 6-6, 235 pound sack-machine 47th and his offer list reflects his talent and potential with the likes of Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee all working hard for his services.
It's spring again, so that can only mean Penn State football players are blazing up. Police raided an apartment the night of the school's spring game two weeks ago after receiving noise complaints and later found marijuana "in plain view" in the kitchen. No charges were filed, but the release of the apartment's address sent fans into a state of panic as the campus directory listed quarterback Daryll Clark as being a resident of the unit in question.
Still no charges, but the residents have been identified as a potential starter at guard and a three backups. Joe Pa says nothing to see here, move along, but we say give the kids a break. That fine stoner tradition might be a factor in the aforementioned conference-leading APR score.
