Player departures hurting Gophers men's basketball team's academic standing

The University of Minnesota men's basketball team was the outlier in an otherwise exceptional showing by the school's athletic department in the latest academic reports released Wednesday.

The program's most recent score (860 points on a 1,000-point scale) was the lowest among Minnesota's 23 sports by more than 80 points. Next year's Academic Progress Report could show similar numbers for coach Richard Pitino's team, due to recent player departures. If a program's four-year average score dips too low, penalties such as postseason bans or a loss of scholarships could be assessed.

"While we are pleased with our overall Academic Progress Rates, there are areas where we can improve," senior associate athletic director Chris Werle wrote in a statement to the Star Tribune. "Men's basketball is an area that suffered a drop in its APR and we are committed to improving that score as the program moves forward."

The annual APR calculates a single-year score and a multiyear rate calculated from a four-year span for every NCAA team. Gophers basketball's score of 860 for 2014-15, the most current data available, followed a perfect 1,000 in 2013-14.

Student-athletes who leave a program by transfer or any other reason negatively affect a team's APR score. Three of Pitino's players in 2014-15 did not finish the year: Zach Lofton was dismissed, sophomore Daquein McNeil did not return after being charged with two counts of felony assault and freshman Josh Martin transferred.

Minnesota's basketball multiyear score could take another hit when the 2015-16 numbers are released next April. Senior Carlos Morris was dismissed in February and freshman Kevin Dorsey announced his transfer earlier this month.

The NCAA does not penalize a team unless their multiyear score dips below the 930 cutline. Penalties include postseason bans, loss of some scholarship funding or other "consequences intended to direct additional focus on academics," according to the NCAA. In 2009, the Gophers football program lost three scholarships when its APR fell under coach Tim Brewster.

As previously reported, Minnesota had the highest percentage of teams among major public universities to receive national academic honors last week. The football team's score of 992 tied for second-best nationally and is the program's highest score since APR scores were introduced in 2004-05. None of the Gophers' other sports' single-year score fell below 942, which women's basketball posted. Eleven programs had perfect multiyear scores of 1,000.

"Here at the University of Minnesota, we continue to make academics a priority," interim athletic director Beth Goetz said in a release. "And this NCAA multiyear progress report continues to show the hard work of our student-athletes, coaches and academic staff."