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06/09/2010 -
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The NCAA's big boys have figured out how to beat up the little guys in the classroom, too.
Spend more money.
The newest Academic Progress Rate, released Wednesday, showed seven of the 137 teams facing penalties come from BCS conferences and only two power conference schools - Colorado and Syracuse - were sanctioned in football, men's basketball or women's basketball. Both schools said they have already taken the scholarship losses and won't be affected next season.
And there's little doubt about the reasons for the disparity between big and small schools.
``It is clear resources make a difference and the schools that do have resources can make more timely adjustments,'' NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon said. ``We clearly have examples of low-resource institutions that were very successful academically, it's not just money, but we're trying to help.''
Assistance didn't come quickly enough for Portland State, which lost an appeal to avoid a postseason ban in men's basketball. Nine other schools, none from BCS conferences, all received waivers. A year ago, football teams at Jacksonville State and Tennessee-Chattanooga and the men's basketball team at Centenary were the first schools to be banned from postseason play because of sub-par academic scores.
The APR measures the classroom performance of every Division I team and this year's data was collected from 2005-06 through 2008-09.
Syracuse and Colorado defied the trend.
Colorado was penalized one scholarship in men's basketball and four in football, while Syracuse lost two in men's basketball for falling below the NCAA's 925 cutline. Officials at both schools said they took away the scholarships last season after academically ineligible players left school.
Syracuse was one of only four NCAA tournament teams from last season to get hit with a penalty. The others were Houston, Morgan State and UTEP. Orange coach Jim Boeheim, the reigning national coach of the year, had an explanation for his team's 912 score.
``We had three students leave school early to pursue professional basketball careers last spring and that is difficult to overcome,'' he said. ``We anticipate being back above the APR standard when the next report is compiled.''
The APR is billed as a real-time academic measure of every Division I team. Each athlete receives one point per semester for remaining academically eligible and another point each semester for remaining at that school or graduating.
A mathematical formula is then used to calculate a final team score with 1,000 points being perfect. Teams falling below 925 can face conditional scholarship losses. Teams consistently falling below 900 can be penalized more harshly.
So when Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris all left for the NBA, Boeheim's team could have lost as much as six points.
Lennon and Walt Harrison, chairman of the Committee on Academic Performance, didn't buy it.
``I've learned a lot from Jim Boeheim. I understand his frustrations, but in the end, I'm not persuaded by his arguments,'' Harrison said.
Colorado was one of 10 schools to be sanctioned in both sports, though the other nine all compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. And four of those 10 are Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
The Buffaloes scored 920 in football and 897 in men's basketball.
``Naturally, the APR score for football is of great concern to both our academic and athletic leadership,'' Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano said in a statement. ``It represents a challenge we are working to meet through our APR improvement plan, new academic support staff in athletics, and renewed focus in recruiting and engagement with our student-athletes.''
The good news is that overall APR scores increased by three points, to 967, over last year. Scores in the three lowest scoring sports - baseball, football and men's basketball - also increased and the number of teams decreased for the second straight year.
Harrison said 27 percent fewer athletes are flunking out of school since 2004-05 and that more athletes are coming back to earn degrees.
But NCAA officials understand many schools do not have enough money to respond to problems like Colorado.
Two years ago, the governing body instituted grants to help supplement academic aid at low-income schools, but so far, the results haven't changed much.
- Only four BCS teams, other than those at Colorado and Syracuse, face penalties: men's outdoor track teams at Auburn and Cincinnati, the men's indoor track team at Auburn and the women's rowing team at West Virginia.
- Of the 20 schools facing reductions in scholarships or practice time or both, none are BCS schools and eight are HBCUs.
- Florida International and Southeastern Louisiana each had seven teams sanctioned, the most in Division I. McNeese State was next with six. Cal State-Fullerton, Chicago State, Delaware State, Howard and Nicholls State all had four teams on the list. Georgia Southern, Portland State, Southern University, Southern Utah, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Texas-San Antonio each had three.
- Tennessee-Chattanooga avoided a second straight postseason ban in football despite scoring 885 because the team showed ``demonstrated improvement'' over last year's score of 870.
``I am haunted by the challenges that low-resource institutions have in showing academic performance,'' Harrison said. ``We are looking for ways that will help them, so we're doing everything we can, we believe, to help them. But it continues to be a nagging problem.''
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AP Sports Writers John Kekis in Syracuse, N.Y. and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
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MySportsbook.com: NBA Championship Odds
With the playoffs about two months away, the top two teams in the Western Conference are the clear cut leaders to win the NBA Championship. The Dallas Mavericks have the best record in the NBA (44-9) and have been absolutely scorching since the second week of the season. What makes the Mavs’ record more impressive is the fact that they dropped their first four games of the season. Currently they have won 17 out of their last 18 and are MySportsbook.com’s favorite (2-1) to win it all. Right behind the Mavs are the Pacific leading Phoenix Suns (39-13). Last season, the Suns lost in the Conference Finals to non-other then the Mavericks four games to two. Of course the Suns were without center Amare Stoudemire who has is averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG since coming back from his knee injury. Unlike the Mavs, the Suns have struggled a bit lately having lost their last three and four out of their last seven. Of course the main reason for their three straight loses is due to the absence of two time MVP Steve Nash, who is out with a shoulder injury. Heads-up, the Mavs have beaten the Suns in both of their meetings this season.
In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons (32-19) are the favorites to win it all at 6-1. The addition of Chris Webber seems to have been a good move for the Pistons. Since coming over from the 76ers, Webber has averaged 13.1 PPG and 7.3 RPG and the Pistons are 11-4. Even though the defending champion Heat are currently on the playoff making cusp, they are the Eastern Conference team that is getting the most action to win it all (9-1). The fact that Shaquille O’Neal is back in the starting lineup after missing 39 games probably has something to do with this. No doubt, Shaq makes a difference when in the lineup as their winning six out of their last seven would indicate.
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MySportsbook.com’s NBA Championship odds:
Atlanta Hawks 1000-1
Boston Celtics 5000-1
Charlotte Bobcats 5000-1
Chicago Bulls 20-1
Cleveland Cavaliers 20-1
Dallas Mavericks 2-1
Denver Nuggets 25-1
Detroit Pistons 6-1
Golden State Warriors 250-1
Houston Rockets 12-1
Indiana Pacers 60-1
Los Angeles Clippers 45-1
Memphis Grizzlies 5000-1
Miami Heat 9-1
Milwaukee Bucks 1000-1
Minnesota T-Wolves 200-1
New Jersey Nets 50-1
New Orleans Hornets 150-1
New York Knicks 150-1
Orlando Magic 75-1
Philadelphia 76ers 1000-1
Phoenix Suns 5-2
Portland TrailBlazers 1000-1
Sacramento Kings 250-1
San Antonio Spurs 9-1
Seattle Sonics 5000-1
Toronto Raptors 35-1
Utah Jazz 20-1
Washington Wizards 25-1
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