KU men’s basketball has another strong showing in latest APR release

The Kansas athletic department had four programs post 990 marks or better — including the men’s basketball team — as the NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Report numbers on Wednesday afternoon.

The APR, which measures academic progress toward graduation, requires a score of 930 or better to avoid penalties. Each of KU’s 16 sports were above that mark, with football and men’s track posting the lowest scores at 936.

Though the APR is based off a four-year average, the NCAA also releases each sport’s one-year scores. KU had six programs with a perfect 1,000 in the 2014-15 season (men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, men’s golf, women’s cross country and women’s tennis), which tied a program record. In addition, men’s basketball posted a 1,000 one-year score for the ninth time in 10 years.

KU had only two sports fall below 930 in one-year marks: men’s track (914) and women’s track (906). Paul Buskirk, associate athletic director for student-athlete support, said the lower numbers were mostly the result of athletes’ personal circumstances forcing early departures.

“Coach (Stanley) Redwine is great in terms of keeping an eye on things,” Buskirk said. “We just know that moving forward that this can happen a couple times in your four-year measurement and you’re OK. You can’t do this four years in a row.”

Football, meanwhile, posted a one-year score of 946, which was higher than its four-year APR of 936.

“The one year is the encouraging part, because our trend is moving the direction we need it to go,” Buskirk said. “Coach (David) Beaty is very much on board with what we inherited from the predecessor, and he’s doing a fabulous job of managing his numbers.”

Kansas’ four-year APR by sport:

Women’s cross country 993

Men’s golf 993

Men’s basketball 990

Women’s volleyball 990

Women’s golf 981

Women’s rowing 978

Women’s softball 976

Women’s basketball 973

Women’s swimming 971

Women’s tennis 968

Men’s cross country 966

Baseball 965

Women’s soccer 965

Women’s track 956

Football 936

Men’s track 936

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 3:31 PM with the headline "KU men’s basketball has another strong showing in latest APR release."