Graduation Rates and 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Teams
Forty-one of the 65 teams in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament are graduating at least 50 percent of their players, according to a report published by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. The figures are calculated by the NCAA and include the number of athletes (including freshmen and transfers) in a four-year cohort who graduate within six years. Athletes who leave the institution in good academic standing but without a degree do not count against the team’s graduation success rate. The Knight Commission began spotlighting the academic performance of men’s basketball tournament teams in 2004 as part of its advocacy that the NCAA implement measures to penalize teams for failing to graduate at least 50 percent of its players.