Posted on 03/20/2011 3:01:09 PM PDT by TheConservativeCitizen
DISPARITY IN GRADUATION RATES BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK PLAYERS
Ten of the 68 teams that entered this year’s NCAA Tournament are not on track to graduate at least half of their players. A proposal by the Knight Commission ten years ago recommended that teams who do not graduate at least 50% of their players should not be eligible for post-season play. More than 90 percent of intercollegiate athletic teams meet or exceed this minimal academic standard, with one glaring exception: men’s basketball.
Worse, there is a growing disparity between white and black players. At Kansas State in recent years, 100 percent of white players graduated, while just 14 percent of black players earned their degrees. The story is the same at Kentucky; 31% of black players graduated, while 100% of their white teammates did the same.
Although national averages are a bit better, they have also declined three years in a row. This year, 91% of white players will graduate compared to 59% of blacks. Although that’s better than the 35-percent graduation rate for black male college students overall, many schools fare far worse.
Although some may be tempted to place the blame on the study habits of black players, let’s remember something; these are kids, most of whom are living away from home for the first time. The real responsibility lies with the NCAA, universities, and ultimately the coaches. The (not-so) hidden culprit of course is money. Isn’t it always?
Under the NCAA’s revenue distribution plan, each game played by a team in this year’s tournament earns more than $1.4 million for that team’s conference. Of the $409 million distributed under the NCAA’s formula for rewarding performances in the last five tournaments, 44% was received by teams that were not on track to graduate at least 50% of their players.
This is a travesty on multiple levels. While there are many factors involved, college basketball coaches bare a large part of the blame. They’re the front-line guys from a relational and disciplinarian aspect; they’re the “boots on the ground” when it comes to influencing players on a daily basis. Oh, and coaches with the majors are compensated pretty well too.
Kentucky’s John Calipari is a prime example. He turned a run at the national championship with the Memphis Tigers into an eight-year, $32 million deal with the Wildcats. Don’t misunderstand me; coaches deserve to be paid when they are responsible for generating millions of dollars for their respective universities, but shouldn’t Calipari do better than graduating 31% of his black players?
Ultimately, it’s about discipline on all levels; the NCAA must hold universities accountable for graduating athletes at a minimum benchmark; universities must hold coaches responsible for the same, and coaches must enforce academic discipline on players, with consequences for non-adherence.
While universities like Duke and Butler, who played in last year’s championship game have excellent graduation rates among all players, many do not. It’s time for universities and coaches to start caring as much about how their athletes perform in the classroom as they do on the basketball court.
Is the disparity in graduation rates due to racism? What do Jesse and Al and liberals think of this, I wonder?
The majority of these basketball players don’t belong in college anyway.
Do they check their high school grades before signing them up?
I doubt it.
What about players that leave early to enter the NBA draft in hopes of lucrative contracts? I doubt most of these guys graduate and why should they? It seems to me that it’s a question of free will. These players choose their own path in life and that’s the way it should be. Much ado about nothing if you ask me.
>>>Although some may be tempted to place the blame on the study habits of black players, let’s remember something; these are kids, most of whom are living away from home for the first time. The real responsibility lies with the NCAA, universities, and ultimately the coaches. The (not-so) hidden culprit of course is money. Isn’t it always?<<<
I’m a teacher working with Native Alaskans, so I’m already sacrificing much of my adult life to educate a “minority” in crisis, so don’t flame me for what I’m about to write here.
In answer to the author of this article: Yeah, let’s remember something. These kids are all what we used to call young adults, and the reason for their low graduation rates is because they choose, willingly, to do things that causes low graduation rates. The low graduation rates for blacks - or Native Alaskans, or my son, for that matter - are due entirely to the actions and behavior of the person who isn’t graduating. Period. I have no idea what those specific actions and behaviors are that lead to low graduation rates, but I know one thing - it is absolutely and without a doubt the responsibility of the student in question.
The author really needs to get a clue.
Could it also be due to the fact that college basketball players tend to leave for the pros before graduation?
A lot of the players who do leave early, actually wind up playing in Europe, instead of the NBA.
FTA: Although some may be tempted to place the blame on the study habits of black players, let’s remember something; these are kids, most of whom are living away from home for the first time. The real responsibility lies with the NCAA, universities, and ultimately the coaches. The (not-so) hidden culprit of course is money. Isn’t it always?
May I scream now?
“Do they check their high school grades before signing them up?”
Yes, they do. They also check SAT and ACT scores. There are minimum requirements: https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter/hs/d1_standards.pdf
As a Davidson grad I still miss the glory days of Stefan Curry (hell, I’m old enough to miss the days of Malloy, Cook, and Kroll). He is a bright young man and I’m sure a fine student, but from a cost/benefit analysis there was no reason to hang around Davidson to get his degree. That still doesn’t make the Davidson program exactly a basketball mill.
Which brings up an interesting point: why such a racial disparity (I realize your case is hypothetical, but in my experience, typical) and why aren't the scholarships given at public institutions more in line with the true racial makeup of the surrounding populace? Were it to be reversed, I'm sure there would be much criticism, as there was and is about quotas in the business world, etc. And the old 'well, these players are the best that can be found' shouldn't be allowed to wash either, and for the same reason. I have a hard time believing people like John Thompson or Al Davis (e.g.), think much about advancing the opportunities of white football or basketball players, whose skills are every bit the level of their African-American counterparts. They simply don't try very hard to keep things equal, at least in football and basketball.
The answer, of course, is racism.
Thanks for that info,much needed after my snarky post.
It’s all about winning games and making money. Many of these “student-athletes” would not be near a college campus if the school’s true purpose was to educate. (Don’t give me any crap about how much money sports brings to the college. For all that, college tuition has continued to rise at a rate greater than the cost of living by not a small amount for decades.) It’s just like health insurance. If all the ancillary crap about college was eliminated - including scholarships - causing people to spend their OWN money for tuition, tuition would decrease very quickly.
Graduation rates are only a part of the picture. For each who graduates, what is their major?
I don’t have much interest in the NCAA B-ball tournament (AKA the Championship of AAA Basketball), but I did notice today when the announcer during the Duke game stated that one of the Duke players (name forgotten) will be graduating this May with a degree in, wait...African-American Studies. What is this moron going to do with a “degree” like that? Probably play more basketball. Part of my job is to hire people (in manufacturing). If I saw on a resume that degree, the resume would get round-filed immediately.
What was it Gene Hackman said in HOOSIERS about basketball players being Gods? The good old days of just being a gifted athlete and playing college basketball are over. You’d better have started playing competitive basketball in kindergarten. It used to tick me off to see guys who were just good jumpers getting college scholarships. Now, it’s practice or play every day. They may not be good students, and they may not be upstanding citizens, but believe me, today’s basketball players know how to work. Watch the documentary movie HOOP DREAMS sometime to see what it’s like for an inner city black kid and basketball. Lots of broken dreams.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.