"March Madness" lived up to its name over the weekend with the NCAA's Final Four determined in three overtime games that were classic college nail-biters.
Illinois erased a 15-point deficit with four minutes left in the fourth quarter Saturday to force overtime with Arizona. Louisville beat West Virginia in another overtime thriller, and Michigan State needed double overtime to oust Kentucky Sunday afternoon.
Basketball nirvana.
However, the excitement of "March Madness" overshadows dismal graduation rates for Division I college basketball players, particularly African-Americans.
Less than a dozen of the 65 men's teams in the 2005 tournament would have even qualified to play for the national championship if a modest 50-percent graduation rate was required for their players, according to a study of the past six years' graduation rates by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
"These numbers are criminal in their implication," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who accused colleges of dropping the ball in helping student-athletes who might have had inadequate college preparation. "These schools are making huge amounts of money and getting lots of publicity. They must not be in a position to exploit these youth without repercussions.
"March Madness, May sadness," said Jackson.
Experts liken many Division IA players to hired guns. Few finish their scholarship eligibility with a bachelor's degree.
Richard Lapchick, director of the institute and of the De Vos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at UCF, said that 43 of the teams would not be eligible for the tournament if the 50-percent minimum graduation rate was in place on Selection Sunday.
"Keeping the Score When it Counts: Graduation Rates for 2005 NCAA Men's and Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Teams" shows little improvement for male athletes at most colleges and universities.
Just 28 percent of the men's teams in the NCAA tournament graduated 70 percent or more of white basketball student-athletes, and only 10 percent graduated 70 percent or more of their African-American student-athletes.
Women student-athletes do much better. Only eight of the 64 teams in the women's bracket would have been ineligible for the tournament under the same 50-percent graduation standard.
"Regarding graduation rates for women, we can cut down the nets in celebration," said Lapchick. "As for men's graduation rates, especially for African-American student-athletes, the dance has barely begun."
Some say it's the athletes' fault if they attend a major university on scholarship and leave without earning a diploma. College sports make millions for schools, and a college degree pays dividends to student-athletes.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports the average salary of a worker with a bachelor's degree was $51,206 in 2004, nearly twice the average $27,915 salary of a high school graduate. Workers holding advanced degrees averaged $71,602 annually.
High school dropouts averaged $18,734.
Census Bureau data in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey looked at educational levels for workers 25 and older. Eighty-five percent had at least a high school diploma and 28 percent earned at least a bachelor's degree.
The institute's study compared graduation rates for all student-athletes to basketball student-athletes in general and African-American basketball student-athletes in particular.
-- Twenty-five schools in the men's tournament graduated 60 percent or more of their white basketball players, while just 12 colleges graduated 60 percent or more of their black basketball players.
-- Sixty-three percent of men's teams participating in the tournament graduated 50 percent or more of their white basketball student-athletes, while 34 percent graduated half or more of their African-American student-athletes.
Graduation rates were based on 63 teams that reported them. Rates for white student-athletes were based on 61 teams since Alcorn State and Coppin State College, two historically black colleges and universities, did not have any white student-athletes.
Rates for African-American student-athletes were based on 59 of the teams. Saint Francis, Santa Clara, Montana and Oregon had no African-American student-athletes.
"Race is an ongoing academic issue, reflected in the continued gap between graduation rates for white and African-American student-athletes," Lapchick said in a release. "While rates for both groups have improved over the last few years, a significant disparity remains between graduation rates for white and African-American basketball student-athletes. Overall on Division I teams, 51 percent of white male basketball student-athletes graduated versus only 38 percent of African-Americans."
Lapchick said 45 of the 328 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams failed to graduate a single African-American student-athlete in six years at a time when 58 percent of all players were African-American.
"It is also disturbing that there were 27 Division I women's programs that did not graduate a single African-American female basketball student-athlete in six years, just as African-American female basketball student-athletes reached a record-high level of participation (42 percent) in 2003-04," he said.
The University of Kentucky, eliminated in Sunday's double-overtime quarterfinal, graduated zero percent of its black players and just 25 percent of white players, and the University of California Los Angeles graduated 11 percent of black players and 100 percent of white players.
Among the bright spots, Bucknell University and Utah State University graduated 100 percent of their men's basketball student-athletes and Stanford graduated 92 percent. Bucknell and Oakland University graduated 100 percent of their African-American student-athletes and Stanford 86 percent.
Vanderbilt University, the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Montana graduated 100 percent of women's basketball student-athletes.
The NCAA is considering steps to improve the academic performance and graduation rates of all student-athletes.
Starting in the 2005-06 season Division IA men's basketball teams could lose two scholarships a year if Academic Progress Rate standards to improve graduation rates of student-athletes are not met. Division IA football teams could lose up to nine allotted scholarships and face post-season bans of academic underachievers if progress if not made by the 2009-10 season.
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