(Somewhat OT) Univ Of Kansas Officials On Grad Rates

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(UC was 46% GSR in this timeframe)

Each year at this time, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at Central Florida University releases the most recent graduation rates available for each of the teams in the NCAA Tournament. This season, using federally mandated standards, 30 of the 65 teams in the field had graduation rates of at least 50 percent.

Of the four top seeds, Florida and North Carolina made the cut. Ohio State and Kansas didn't.

"The supposed Final Four, the top seeds are a real disparity there," Richard Lapchick, the institute's director, told The Associated Press. "That's certainly an issue."

At Kansas, officials certainly take issue with the report.

"I do believe there needs to be accountability," said Paul Buskirk, associate athletic director for student support. "Where I struggle with Mr. Lapchick is the numbers are only the numbers and there is no story, nor was there an inquiry. We would love to talk to them about why the numbers are what they are."

Not just why, but who. In this year's graduation rates, the numbers have names: Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden.

Those three players will go down as one of the most beloved and decorated classes in Kansas hoops history. They also will forever be an academic albatross, not because of their poor performance but because of the accounting standards used to compile the numbers.

Simply put, a student-athlete counts as a graduate for his institution if he or she earns a degree within six years of first enrolling. The 1999 cohort, which is the fancy academic way to say group or, in this case, class, now and always will have a graduation rate of 33 percent.

Only Collison earned his diploma within the prescribed time frame. Hinrich took six and one-half years, so he is a big, fat zero. Gooden, who left after his junior year, concentrated on his NBA career for a couple of years, then resumed work on his degree through correspondence courses.

"He said, 'I made promises to people that I want to fulfill,' " Buskirk said. "He'll never show up in the numbers, but we're proud of him.

"The numbers are what they are, but whether they're 33 percent or not, I'll stand by that group."

That is the one-year score. Under federal guidelines for KU's most recent four-year cohort, which encompasses 1996-99, KU's current graduation rate is 40 percent. Using the Graduation Success Rate formula adopted in recent years by the NCAA, which credits a school for transfers who graduate within the window but doesn't penalize it if someone leaves in good academic standing, the number rises to 45 percent.

"I think we're about middle of the pack," Buskirk said.

Overall, the athletic department's GSR is 70 percent. The graduation rate for KU's student body as a whole is 58 percent.

Numbers are valuable, but they don't always measure real life. It never will count toward anyone's graduation rate that Alonzo Jamison, who helped lead KU to the 1991 and '92 Final Fours, earned his degree in December 2006. It benefits no one's numbers that Luke Axtell and Billy Thomas are back working toward theirs.

But take heart, Kansas fans. Your team will be the model of success in Lapchick's report before the 2009 tournament: That year's cohort ? Michael Lee, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford and Wayne Simien ? all graduated in time that they weren't just good student-athletes, they were good statistics.

Seems like UC is not the only one who took issue with NCAA graduation rate methods. Hmmm.

Tom Gray, UC fan since 1958