The respective Graduation Success Rates [GSR] for men’s and women’s NCAA basketball players on 2022 NCAA Tournament teams rose compared to the previous year.
But a sizeable gap remains between Black and white players, according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida “Keeping Score When It Counts” study.
The annual study compiles academic progress and graduation success rate for Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Male players overall graduated at an average rate of 87.2%, increasing 4.8 percentage points from last year. Black players had an 83.7% graduation rate, up 3.4% from last year.
While that is good news, it is shadowed by the fact white male student-athletes graduated at a 95.1% rate, 11.4% higher than Black male student-athletes. The gap was at 13.4 percent for 2021 NCAA Tournament men’s teams.
The women’s overall graduation rate increased to 93.9% for 2022 tournament teams from 93.1% last year. That 93.9 percent rate is distinctively better than the men’s 87.2% mark.
The racial difference in graduation rates is also present with women, but the gap is lower than with men.
Black women players graduated at a rate of 92.5% compared to 98.8% of white players. The difference of 6.3% is slightly higher than last year’s 6.1%
Richard Lapchick, TIDES director, called the upward trend in graduation rates “encouraging” in the report’s executive summary.
“Not so encouraging and totally unacceptable is the fact that 11 teams (16.2%) of men’s teams had a 30% or greater gap between the graduation rates of their white and Black basketball student-athletes,” he said.
There were four women’s teams with a 30% or higher gap.
The TIDES study lists teams in respective 2022 NCAA Tournaments, meaning Missouri and St. Louis University graduation rates are not included in this year’s report.
The NCAA created the GSR in 2005. It tracks student-athletes for six years following entrance to an NCAA member institution to monitor the graduation rates of member institutions and their athletic programs, according to TIDES. All APR/GSR data is currently available from the NCAA National Office Research department.
“The disparities in GSR have racial implications that cannot be ignored. It’s paramount that universities hire more head coaches of color for men’s and women’s teams,” Lapchick said.
“We need to advocate to make educational success equally represented across all students, including male and female student athletes of all races.”
To review the TIDES study, visit www.tidesport.org.
The Reid Roundup
I’m with Earl Austin in congratulating Caleb Love for helping the North Carolina Tar Heels and coach Hubert Davis reach the Final Four… This time next week I hope to be celebrating the KU Jayhawks either beating North Carolina or Duke in the championship game… Brittney Griner, a member of the Phoenix Mercury WNBA franchise, remains in custody in after her February 17 arrest for allegedly having cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage at an airport. OK, Putin, you proved your point. Send her home. The U.S. will pay for an airline ticket and a fine… Ben Proudfoot, director of the Oscar-winning documentary “The Queen of Basketball,” asked President Joe Biden to “bring Brittney Griner home” during his acceptance speech on March 27. The documentary honors Lusia “Lucy” Harris, the first woman officially drafted by the NBA in 1977 and the first Black woman to be honored in the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992… The New York Rangers headed to the playoffs and sport one of the NHL’s best young Black players in K’Andre Miller. Miller’s overtime goal on March 27 gave the Rangers a 5-4 overtime win against Buffalo. It was the second-year sixth goal of the year to go along with nine assists. He seems to get better every game,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of his budding star… St. Peter’s, the underdog Cinderella team of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, is losing coach Shaheen Holloway to his alma mater Seton Hall. Reports have it Holloway, who starred at guard at Seton Hall and served there as an assistant coach, was headed back after the season regardless of what his Peacocks accomplished in the tournament… Albert Pujols is returning to the St. Louis Cardinals for at least the 2022 season. He will make $2.5 million and serve mostly as the team’s designated hitter [DH]… I’m livid the National League approved the DH rule. I’ve hated it since the American League adopted it in 1974.
