I doubt many Republican national (or state) political leaders read “Inside Higher Ed,” unless in an attempt to ferret out those awful DEI initiatives or Black history courses.
Each year I check out its NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket. Beginning with the first-round games, its respective national champion wins the title based on academic performance.
The 2025 Men’s Final Four included Louisville, Kansas, Clemson and Liberty.
Wins are based on the latest academic progress rate (APR) available, which was the 2022-23 academic year. The academic progress rate measures student athlete retention, academic eligibility and graduation rates.
It isn’t perfect, and many people feel it does not give a clear picture of performance. (Shouldn’t Yale win this year?)
I remind people that the first publication to list academic achievement in major sports and rank them by performance was “Emerge,” an African American monthly magazine that no longer publishes.
As senior editor, I teamed with reporter Jimmie Briggs on the projects. It is one of the works in my career of which I am most proud.
Louisville defeated KU in a semifinal contest, while Clemson topped Liberty. Clemson then won the national title.
As in the actual tournament, Drake defeated Missouri and Houston defeated SIU-Edwardsville.
I incorrectly did not place an SEC team in the actual Final Four. This held true in the academic tournament.
Tennessee and Alabama advanced to the Elite Eight, then lost to Liberty and Clemson, respectively. Auburn, not surprisingly, was ushered out in the first round by Saint Francis.
Lipscomb advanced two rounds with respective wins over Iowa State and San Diego State, while Omaha beat Saint John’s.
Unlike in the men’s bracket, the Ivy League dominated the women’s academic basketball tournament.
Columbia University became a repeat champion by defeating Harvard in the title game. Joining those teams in the Final Four were South Dakota State (which ousted actual champion UConn in the second round) and Creighton.
South Carolina, which reached the women’s national title game against UConn, won against Tennessee Tech and Utah before losing to the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay in an Elite Eight game.
Various tiebreakers were used in both the women’s and men’s tournaments, including overall graduation rates, not just athletic.
Here’s something cool about the women’s competition, according to HEI.
“There were four matchups in the second round in which both teams had perfect APRs of 1,000. Kudos to those teams.”
The championship matchup between Harvard University and Columbia University featured teams which had perfect APRs and athletic graduation, and overall graduation rates of 99%.
“We’ve never seen this before in Inside Higher Ed’s 19 years of academic March Madness, so, although not ideal, we had to resort to a (virtual) coin flip. Naturally, Harvard was heads because both start with “H.”
Columbia won the toss.
The Reid Roundup
With the NFL Draft’s first round being held Thursday April 24, former Missouri receiver Luther Burden III remains a mystery. The Denver Broncos (20th pick), Green Bay Packers (23) and Minnesota Vikings (24) are rumored to draft him…The Kansas City Chiefs would consider drafting Burden with the 31st pick. Patrick Mahomes could always use another weapon… The Tennessee Titans are locked on former Miami U. quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick. If he falls to second round, Burden could team with the best QB in the draft…Colorado can’t be faulted for retiring Travis Hunter’s No. 12, he won the Heisman Trophy. But to retire Shedeur Sanders’ No. 2 is a travesty. His father and coach Deion Sanders said if not for his last name, there would be no controversy. He’s right. If Shedeur had a different last name, his number would never have been considered for retirement…Former Hazelwood Central star Devin Williams left Milwaukee as a free agent for more cash with the New York Yankees. After blowing a four-run ninth inning lead in a loss to Tampa Bay last week, Williams was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA. He reportedly doesn’t like the large number of media members in the Yankees’ clubhouse before and after games.