Help me understand it then, I believe if you leave school without being on track to graduate you count negatively against the APR. That is why Kentucky gets a perfect score...
No, it has nothing to do with being on track to graduate. How could a one semester player at Kentucky be on track to graduate. Regarding UConn, there are two issues at stake.
1. They brought forward the APR due date forward without allowing schools who were in danger to do anything about it. In prior years, teams were exempted when they showed improvement (UConn had 3 years of great scores when they were banned). The judgment left UConn with absolutely no chance to comply or ameliorate things.
2. APR is simply this: 1 point for a player returning to campus in the fall, 1 point for a player returning to campus in the spring. 1 point for a player finishing fall semester, 1 point for a player finishing spring semester. Add up points and divide by 13 then multiply by 1000 (in order to make an arbitrary measure somehow look hefty). Exceptions: if a player leaves for the pros, no matter his GPA, his points are exempt (in the spring). If a player transfers with less than a 2.6, you are docked points.
In UConn's case, we had a kid who completed 3 years of schools and one semester who then left without completing his degree. He dinged UConn for 2 points. UConn also had 2 players transfer without 2.6s. Both killed the APR, and that's how UConn was below the 930 cutoff.
This doesn't even account for the fact that all schools have a different way of going about sending athletes to classes. Some don't care (some of the ACC and all of the SEC). Others have actual classes. So you're comparing apples to oranges. Now, UConn has near perfect APR scores for several years. if you think UConn has improved academics for basketball players, you might be wrong. It's much more likely that UConn has learned how to use intersession courses so that players leaving for the pros or transferring are exempted from counting against you in the APR.
It's just a phony NCAA thing that means nothing. It has absolutely nothing to do with graduation. You get no credit for players graduating.
Here's a funny fact: Harvard was below the APR cutoff for 2 straight years, whereas Kentucky has been acing it. That's a joke.
