Indiana Basketball APR Scores Or Why Won't the Kelvin Sampson Era Die?!

There is no question that Indiana basketball faced a dark time academically when Kelvin Sampson was running the roost. Even if what he did to eventually get himself canned is now legal, it turned out to be a blessing that the rules there existed. Outside of the rumors of rampant drug abuse by several individuals on the team, they essentially had quit going to class as well. When Tom Crean took over the program the team was failing everything and the APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores showed it.

In Crean’s first year as head coach he inherited a team APR of 866. Mind you under the new rules that go into effect this coming season that would have been 64 points under the post-season ban minimum of 930. Essentially, the team that Kelvin Sampson was running wouldn’t have stood a chance of qualifying for the tournament even if they were physically capable of doing so. This really goes to show how deeply rotten and broken of a program Tom Crean inherited and the Indiana administration allowed to occur. Really, looking a mere four years back, it should be offensive to any IU alum that we could have supported such garbage. Luckily the last ghosts of the Kelvin Sampson era will be banished to the afterlife within the next year. Until then we still have to put up with some blemishes academically.

Indiana basketball posted its second consecutive year of a perfect APR score. The APRs are a year behind so this score would have accounted for the 2010-2011 season. Since Crean took over his three teams to have received scores (this leaves out his rookie season as those scores would have come under Sampson’s watch) 975, 1000 and 1000. Unfortunately for us, we still reside near the bottom of the conference because of the 866 monkey that accounts into the NCAA’s four year average. Even with that though, Indiana’s 952 keeps it out of last place in the B1G (Nebraska and Iowa).

Much like last season, Indiana basketball’s academic rating is going to make a jump from last to top of the pack this coming year when Sampson’s 866 goes off the books and hopefully another 1000 goes on. That would put Indiana and Marni Mooney (Indiana’s Academic Advisor, who deserves a lot of credit) in third place, just one point behind Purdue’s 995 and 5 points behind Michigan’s perfect 1000. Ultimately you would have to think that the goal is get up there with Michigan in flawless territory and at the rate that individuals are graduating in Indiana’s basketball program that isn’t out of the question. The motto for Indiana basketball should not be one and done, but "three and degree."

As an aside, seven other IU programs acquired perfect APR scores for 2010-11. Men’s cross country, golf, swimming & diving and women’s tennis, water polo, swimming & diving are the other 7 programs. According to the Bloomington HT, men’s golf, women’s tennis and both track and field programs are tops in the conference for their respective sports. IU baseball, men’s golf and women’s tennis were also recognized by the NCAA for being in the top ten percent in the nation according to IU’s press release.