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2 BCS schools could lose basketball scholarshipsNCAA Football Betting Lines06/09/2010 - INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The NCAA's big boys have figured out how to beat up the little guys in the classroom, too. Spend more money. The newest Academic Progress Rate, released Wednesday, showed seven of the 137 teams facing penalties come from BCS conferences and only two power conference schools - Colorado and Syracuse - were sanctioned in football, men's basketball or women's basketball. Both schools said they have already taken the scholarship losses and won't be affected next season. And there's little doubt about the reasons for the disparity between big and small schools. ``It is clear resources make a difference and the schools that do have resources can make more timely adjustments,'' NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon said. ``We clearly have examples of low-resource institutions that were very successful academically, it's not just money, but we're trying to help.'' Assistance didn't come quickly enough for Portland State, which lost an appeal to avoid a postseason ban in men's basketball. Nine other schools, none from BCS conferences, all received waivers. A year ago, football teams at Jacksonville State and Tennessee-Chattanooga and the men's basketball team at Centenary were the first schools to be banned from postseason play because of sub-par academic scores. The APR measures the classroom performance of every Division I team and this year's data was collected from 2005-06 through 2008-09. Syracuse and Colorado defied the trend. Colorado was penalized one scholarship in men's basketball and four in football, while Syracuse lost two in men's basketball for falling below the NCAA's 925 cutline. Officials at both schools said they took away the scholarships last season after academically ineligible players left school. Syracuse was one of only four NCAA tournament teams from last season to get hit with a penalty. The others were Houston, Morgan State and UTEP. Orange coach Jim Boeheim, the reigning national coach of the year, had an explanation for his team's 912 score. ``We had three students leave school early to pursue professional basketball careers last spring and that is difficult to overcome,'' he said. ``We anticipate being back above the APR standard when the next report is compiled.'' The APR is billed as a real-time academic measure of every Division I team. Each athlete receives one point per semester for remaining academically eligible and another point each semester for remaining at that school or graduating. A mathematical formula is then used to calculate a final team score with 1,000 points being perfect. Teams falling below 925 can face conditional scholarship losses. Teams consistently falling below 900 can be penalized more harshly. So when Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris all left for the NBA, Boeheim's team could have lost as much as six points. Lennon and Walt Harrison, chairman of the Committee on Academic Performance, didn't buy it. ``I've learned a lot from Jim Boeheim. I understand his frustrations, but in the end, I'm not persuaded by his arguments,'' Harrison said. Colorado was one of 10 schools to be sanctioned in both sports, though the other nine all compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. And four of those 10 are Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The Buffaloes scored 920 in football and 897 in men's basketball. ``Naturally, the APR score for football is of great concern to both our academic and athletic leadership,'' Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano said in a statement. ``It represents a challenge we are working to meet through our APR improvement plan, new academic support staff in athletics, and renewed focus in recruiting and engagement with our student-athletes.'' The good news is that overall APR scores increased by three points, to 967, over last year. Scores in the three lowest scoring sports - baseball, football and men's basketball - also increased and the number of teams decreased for the second straight year. Harrison said 27 percent fewer athletes are flunking out of school since 2004-05 and that more athletes are coming back to earn degrees. But NCAA officials understand many schools do not have enough money to respond to problems like Colorado. Two years ago, the governing body instituted grants to help supplement academic aid at low-income schools, but so far, the results haven't changed much. - Only four BCS teams, other than those at Colorado and Syracuse, face penalties: men's outdoor track teams at Auburn and Cincinnati, the men's indoor track team at Auburn and the women's rowing team at West Virginia. - Of the 20 schools facing reductions in scholarships or practice time or both, none are BCS schools and eight are HBCUs. - Florida International and Southeastern Louisiana each had seven teams sanctioned, the most in Division I. McNeese State was next with six. Cal State-Fullerton, Chicago State, Delaware State, Howard and Nicholls State all had four teams on the list. Georgia Southern, Portland State, Southern University, Southern Utah, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Texas-San Antonio each had three. - Tennessee-Chattanooga avoided a second straight postseason ban in football despite scoring 885 because the team showed ``demonstrated improvement'' over last year's score of 870. ``I am haunted by the challenges that low-resource institutions have in showing academic performance,'' Harrison said. ``We are looking for ways that will help them, so we're doing everything we can, we believe, to help them. But it continues to be a nagging problem.'' --- AP Sports Writers John Kekis in Syracuse, N.Y. and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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NFL Football BettingBILLS (+10) at Steelers SPORTSBOOK LINES It's impossible to gauge how a team will react after something like the Steve Everett situation, and it probably doesn't matter. That being said, the Bills are going to lose several games this year where they keep things close but fall short in the end to superior teams. Ben Roethlisberger and company could have a field day against Buffalo's decimated defense, but I like the Bills to cover. BENGALS (-7) at Browns SPORTSBOOK LINES All you can ask out of your NFL team is that it has a plan. You may not always agree with it as a fan, but as long as it appears the organization is going in some sort of direction, you have to go with it. Which brings us to the Cleveland Browns. You flip a coin to determine whether Chuck Frye or Derek Anderson should start the preseason opener. You start Frye in Week 1, but pull him in the first half. And then you deal him to the Seahawks for a sixth-round pick? Hmm... the Bengals could get six turnovers again this week. COLTS (-7) at Titans SPORTSBOOK LINES Tennessee signed ex-Colts cornerback Nick Harper in the offseason so that should help slow down Peyton Manning. Just ask Jason David and the Saints. Oh wait... One of these weeks, I'm going to learn to not pick against Tennessee, which has won seven of its last eight games. But it's not happening against Indy. TEXANS (+6.5) at Panthers SPORTSBOOK LINES Houston's Mario Williams, the first pick in the '06 draft, has more touchdowns than Reggie Bush after one week. Somehow I don't see that lasting. Meanwhile, Carolina bottled up what was expected to be a pretty high-octane offense in St. Louis in Week 1. Could this be the Panthers' defense everyone expected last year? Maybe. This feels like a 20-16 Carolina win. RAMS (-3) vs. 49ers SPORTSBOOKS LINES Absolutely love this game. Everyone's favorite pick for this year's surprise team -- the 49ers -- laid an egg on Monday night (not that anyone was watching with the game ending in the middle of the night for those of us on the East Coast). St. Louis wasn't much better, delivering a lackluster effort against the Panthers that included two Steven Jackson fumbles and panic from his fantasy owners. Jackson rebounds this week, and the Rams get their first win. PACKERS (+1.5) at Giants SPORTSBOOKS LINES Do you really trust this guy to win an NFL game if Eli Manning can't go? I say no. I'd feel alot better about this Packers team if it had any semblance of a running game, but I still think Green Bay's defense is good enough to give it a 2-0 start. JAGUARS (-10) vs. Falcons SPORTSBOOKS LINES Does it scare me to pick Jacksonville to cover a double-digit spread after it scored just 10 points last week against the Titans? Absolutely. But can I bring myself to pick Atlanta under any circumstances? No. Check out this poll on ajc.com. It asks what Atlanta's most urgent deficiency is: offense, defense, specials teams or all of the above. "All of the above" has 57 percent of the votes. Ouch. SAINTS (-3) at Buccaneers SPORTSBOOKS LINES I'm picking way too many road teams this week. Oh well. New Orleans has had some time to reflect on its lackluster showing in the opener, and the Buccanneers just aren't a very good football team. Anyone else surprised Tampa Bay hasn't made a move to sign Byron Leftwich? I thought that's what they do. VIKINGS (+3) at Lions SPORTS BETTING LINES Run the ball and stop the run. Minnesota can do both, and that will keep them in a lot of games this season. Even though it was only one week, Adrian Peterson looks like he was a steal at No. 7 in last year's draft. Not only will he produce, but Peterson delivers excitement to what otherwise would be one of the league's most boring teams. DOLPHINS (+3.5) vs. Cowboys SPORTS BETTING LINES Lost in the Tony Romo lovefest is just how bad the Cowboys' defense was last week. I know they're banged up, but Dallas' 'D' allowed 438 yards to the Giants' offense, and backup running back Derrick Ward averaged 6.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Cam Cameron's decision to split carries between Ronnie Brown and Jesse Chatman sounds about as can't-miss as Larry David's plan to show up to Marty Funkhouser's party a night late. Still, gotta go with Miami to cover at home. SEAHAWKS (-2.5) at Cardinals SPORTS BETTING LINES I'm probably missing something, but this game seems too easy. Arizona blew Monday night's game against the 49ers in typical Cardinals fashion, and the Seahawks beat Tampa Bay by two touchdowns. Love Seattle in this one. BRONCOS (-9.5) vs. Raiders SPORTS BETTING LINES Special teams was a major story line in Week 1. Take a look at the Broncos. They had to rush on to the field to get a Jason Elam field goal as time expired against the Bills. Denver drove into Buffalo territory on eight of 10 drives but came away with just a pair of field goals and a touchdown. Look for more scoring from the Broncos this week against an Oakland defense that gave up 36 points to Detroit in Week 1. BEARS (-12) vs. Chiefs SPORTS BETTING LINES Everyone talks about Rex Grossman when dissecting the Bears' offense, but Chicago's quarterback got no help in last week's loss to the Chargers. Meanwhile, Kansas City confirmed what we all thought while watching Hard Knocks: The Chiefs are going to stink this year. It could be a rough first month for Larry Johnson fantasy owners. Kansas City's RB was limited to 43 yards on 10 carries in Week 1, and the Chiefs face the Bears, Vikings and Chargers the next three weeks, all formidable run defenses. RAVENS (-10) vs. Jets SPORTS BETTING LINES A big dose of Willis McGahee and a usual sound defensive effort will give the Ravens their first win. According to Football Outsiders, no team in the NFL rushed only three defenders on pass plays last year more than the Jets. And according to my special Jets correspondent Ben Stauber, New York did the same in Week 1. Whoever starts at quarterback for the Ravens should have all day to throw. PATRIOTS (-3) vs. Chargers Friends and I were discussing how Bill Belichick goes about paying his $500,000 fine for cheating. Does he just write one check to the NFL? Do you need some sort of clearance to make such a monstrous financial transaction? I guess I shouldn't complain about the security deposit I have to put down on my new apartment. Anyway, two of the league's best teams square off in what should be a good one Sunday night. The Patriots always respond well just when you think they're in trouble. And their offensive attack was the story in Week 1. Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting. |
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