Bracketology, through an Academic Performance Lens

Eduflack Achievement gap, higher ed

This week marks the second greatest annual sporting experience — March Madness (Eduflack is still a purist and believes nothing can hold a candle to baseball’s Opening Day).  Later this week, 65 of the supposed best Division One men’s basketball teams will square off to see which is the best (or the luckiest) basketball team of the year.  And then, on my birthday this year, we will crown a national champion.

The top four seeds are the top teams we typically expect to see — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse, with Kansas designated the number one number one.  As in most years, we see lots of teams from the major conferences, and a good mix of mid-major programs that have done their institutions proud on the hardwoods.

The annual brackets often lead some to begin discussing athletics versus academics at Division One colleges and universities.  Those who follow men’s college basketball (it is very different for women’s college basketball) are no fools.  We realize that the majority of players, particularly those who start, will never earn that sheepskin from the IHE providing them with a free, four-year ride to a top college.  Many play a year or two, then seek their fortunes in either the NBA.  Those who can’t make the NBA cut will often head to overseas leagues, hoping it will provide them a pathway back to the NBA.  And many will fail to take advantage of the opportunities that scholarship can provide, particularly in the face of the realities of how few college ballers actually make it to play professionally with LeBron, Kobe, and company.

For the fifth year in a row, the good folks over at Inside Higher Education offer up their “Academic Performance Tournament,” a similarly bracketed tourney that looks at how those teams playing for that “one shining moment” on April 5 would fair if they were judged based on the NCAA’s Academic Performance Rate (that looks at academic standing and simply staying enrolled in school) instead of just the number of points one can put up during a game.  And the results are always fun to look at.

Sometimes, we do see the actual winner match up with the academic winner.  It happened last year when the University of North Carolina won.  But this year’s Academic Dance offers up some great upsets.  Ohio U over Georgetown.  Vermont over Syracuse (which has actually happened in the Tourney before).  North Texas over Kansas State.  Cornell over Temple.  Montana over New Mexico.  Siena over Purdue.

IHE offers its Final Four as Kansas, Duke, Texas, and BYU, with Kansas winning it all on April 5.  Syracuse loses its first game.  Number one seed Kentucky doesn’t make it into the round of 16.  But IHE still sides with chalk, choosing the number one number one seed to win it all, a real possibility both academically and athletically.

The folks at IHE use the NCAA Graduation Success Rate to break ties.  Eduflack wonders what the brackets would look like if we picked winners based solely on their ability to graduate the players they enroll as “student-athletes.”  The results would likely be shocking.

UPDATE: ESPN is also reporting a new report provided by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, which focuses on the graduation gap between white and black players on the 65 teams found in the bracket.  According to the Institute, 45 teams graduated 70 percent or more of their white players, but only 20 teams could hit the same mark for their black student-athletes.  The study used graduation success rates, looking at six-year grad rates for freshmen.


 

101 thoughts on “Bracketology, through an Academic Performance Lens”

  12. Soft ephedrine ejaculations.

    Where can i buy ephedrine online. Ephedrine diet pills. Ephedrine. Is ephedrine legal. Paypal ephedrine. Ephedrine hcl. Ephedrine containing products. Lipodrene with ephedrine. Ephedrine hcl pure.

    Reply

  17. Side effects of amoxicillin and clavulanate.

    Buy amoxicillin no prescription required. What is amoxicillin used for. Side effects of amoxicillin. Feline amoxicillin. Penicillin vk vs amoxicillin. Rash from amoxicillin.

    Reply

  25. Ephedrine.

    What do you make ephedrine out of. Ephedrine withdrawn. Ephedrine hcl michigan. Biotek ephedrine. Ephedrine liquid gels. Ephedrine pills. Brewing your own ephedrine.

    Reply

  34. Bladder infection and amoxicillin.

    Side effect of amoxicillin anxiety. H pylori amoxicillin. Reaction to amoxicillin. Photos or amoxicillin 75 mg. Mix amoxicillin liquid. Reactions from amoxicillin. What does amoxicillin pills look like. Prescription amoxicillin. What is amoxicillin.

    Reply

  37. Amoxicillin strep pharyngitis.

    Buy amoxicillin without prescription. Amoxicillin. Amoxicillin dosage. Buy amoxicillin with no prescription. Safety of amoxicillin and greyhounds. Amoxicillin alternative. Amoxicillin order mexico mexican.

    Reply

  42. Amoxicillin no prescription.

    Buy amoxicillin without prescription. Amoxicillin. Amoxicillin for acne. Amoxicillin not pink. Canine dosage for amoxicillin for sinus infection. Can i drink alcohol if i m taking amoxicillin.

    Reply

  45. Ephedra.

    Ephedra tea. Ephedra attorneys southern california. Diet fuel with ephedra. Ephedra products. Stacker 3 with ephedra. Yellow bullet ephedra review.

    Reply

  46. Generic cialis apcalis price comparison.

    Generic cialis. Drug called cialis. Cialis attorneys. Cialis best price buy online. Viagra cialis levitra buy cheap cialis buy ciali. Cialis.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Soma snakeoil. Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s