Final Four score low in class

INDIANAPOLIS – No school could match the postseason success of Florida, George Mason, LSU or UCLA on the basketball court. The classroom marks of those teams weren’t as tough to beat.

The four teams playing at this weekend’s Final Four all fell short of the NCAA’s recently imposed cutline on academic progress rates, but none was sanctioned since three received squad-size adjustment waivers, and the fourth, LSU, kept all of its players eligible.

NCAA president Myles Brand calls that progress.

“LSU was in that category below the squad-size adjustment but they did not have any student-athlete that flunked out,” Brand said Thursday. “What does that tell you? They weren’t doing well in the past and they’re doing better now. … That’s exactly what we want.”

Brand spent his 45-minute news conference discussing a wide range of topics including diploma-mill prep schools, fiscal responsibility and American Indian mascots.

Much of the focus, however, was on Brand’s favorite topic – academic reform.

The former president of Indiana University has championed the reform movement throughout his four-year tenure by urging university presidents to implement tougher standards and harsher penalties.

Statistics show some changes are working, but the four teams playing in the NCAA’s highest-profile event were all lower than the cutline of 925.

George Mason scored a 918, the highest among the Final Four schools. LSU had the worst score, 860. Florida was at 903 and UCLA at 915.