The fact of the matter is, there is only so much the school can do to force basketball players to GRADUATE. I'm not sure where that 8% graduation rate came from, but I know for a fact it can't include this year's seniors, because they wouldn't have graduated by now anyhow.
So who DOES it encompass ? Guys who left early to play professionally ? Transfers ? Without seeing who is being considered, I'm not going to pass judgement. I mean, we can all yell about Calipari the slimeball, but would anyone really say he hasn't done his job by graduating players when Kentucky has become the premiere destination for one and done NBA players ? Come on
UPDATE: And here you go:
UConn Men's Basketball Scores An 8 Percent Graduation Rate
October 24, 2013|By DOM AMORE,
damore@courant.com, The Hartford Courant
The graduation numbers continue to be low for the UConn men's basketball program. In figures released by the NCAA on Thursday, UConn scored an 8 percent graduation success rate for players who entered school between 2003 and 2006 — far below the national average of 74 percent in the sport.
Between 2003 and 2006. I mean, seriously, are you kidding me ? You're trying to say something about what's going on at UConn in 2013-2014 by referencing data from a decade ago ? F v ck off.
The really obnoxious thing is the players that make up this statistic. Freshmen incoming in years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006:
2003
Josh Boone - NBA early entry
Charlie Villanueva - NBA early entry
Marcus Williams - NBA early entry
2004
Rudy Gay - NBA early entry
Antonio Kellogg - transfer
2005
AJ Price - NBA
Jeff Adrien - NBA
Craig Austrie
Rob Garrison - transfer
Marcus Johnson - transfer
2006
Hasheem Thabeet - NBA early entry
Jerome Dyson - NBA aspirations, drafted, D-league, NBL Canada
Stanley Robinson - NBA aspirations, D-league, Israel, Italy
Gavin Edwards - NBA aspirations, NBA summer league, Japan
Curtis Kelly - transfer
Ben Eaves - transfer (?)
Doug Wiggins - transfer
Jonathon Mandledove
So the bottom line is that of the guys here, there are TWO that seem like they would have benefited - in the near term - from getting their degree - Craig Austrie and Jonathon Mandledove. I don't know who the ONE player from the 12 they counted is, but I wouldn't doubt for a second that it was Craig Austrie. The really ironic thing is, this is the exact group that played a significant role in the APR nonsense, too. But incredibly stupid to still be talking about UConn's academic performance in 2013-14 but using numbers from 2003-2006. That's just idiotic.