Arizona football, men's hoops teams dip in APR scores but avoid penalties

Arizona’s football team remained last in the Pac-12 in updated NCAA Academic Progress Ratings released Wednesday, and men’s basketball slipped slightly, but both programs remained above the penalty zone.

The UA football program posted a 951 score out of 1,000 in 2016-17 after posting a 971 rating a year earlier, pushing its four-year rate down to 946. Teams need a four-year rate of 930 or above to avoid penalties.

The Arizona men’s basketball four-year rate dropped from 974 to 963 after it posted a 936 score in 2016-17 and a 980 score in 2012-13 was no longer factored in.

All other sports at Arizona also remained above 930, with the NCAA champion women’s golf team and men’s cross country team both recording perfect 1,000 four-year rates. The men’s golf team had only a 911 score in 2016-17, but its four-year rate was 963. Men’s tennis posted an 889 score, but still has a four-year rate of 955.

Within the Pac-12, Washington had the best four-year rate in football at 986 while, in men’s basketball, Stanford leads at 1,000 and UCLA is last at 944.

While the roster numbers in football make pinpointing issues difficult, Arizona’s 936 basketball rate in 2016-17 indicates two or three possible “misses” in academic ineligibility or lack of retention.

Chance Comanche, Kobi Simmons and Ray Smith all left early during that academic year, though players who sign pro contracts and leave while eligible do not ultimately cost their schools any points.

Smith also may not have hurt Arizona’s APR score because he retired medically after suffering his third ACL tear in November 2016.

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Comanche was suspended for two exhibition games before the 2016-17 season for what UA coach Sean Miller called “his own lack of academic responsibility.”

The UA declined to comment on overall scores Wenesday, and said it could not mention specific athletes because of student-privacy rules.

Designed to measure academic progress and retention, the NCAA’s APR is calculated by giving each scholarship athlete a point for each semester he or she is retained and a point for each semester he or she remains in the program. The score is then determined by dividing total “hits” by total chances and multiplying by 1,000.

Since men’s basketball had 12 scholarship athletes in 2016-17, there were up to 48 possible points available, though some circumstances reduce the total points available or add points back via a complex and opaque appeals process.

For example, if a player leaves early and signs a pro contract while in good standing academically, he or she would count as a “1 for 1” during that final semester. A point would be earned for academic ineligibility and the retention equation would not be factored in at all.

But if an athlete leaves early without being eligible, he or she would be considered an “0 for 2” — losing a point each for departing and being ineligible.

Arizona’s 963 score in 2016-17 equates to earning 44 of 47 possible points, though it is possible the appeals process resulted in a different set of numbers being calculated.