Academically Challenged

The Typical Collegiate Athlete in the Classroom
Most people understand that it's extremely difficult if not impossible to hold collegiate athletes to the same academic expectations as the rest of the student body. It's just not likely an athlete who spends 20-30 hours a week practicing and playing games in their sport will get above a 3.0 GPA. But what's going on with the Maryland basketball team is unacceptable and quite frankly embarrassing.

Maryland's Current Troubles
This year's team scored a 905 on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate which barely met the minimum requirement of 900 and was the lowest of all basketball teams in the ACC. If Maryland players continue this trend, the team could face penalties as harsh as losing scholarships or even facing postseason bans.

Recurring Theme
The academic problems for Maryland basketball players is nothing new. Maryland is known to have one of the worst graduation rates in the country among their players. Many fans remember the sickening feeling in 2006 when Chris McCray became academically ineligible, which may have been the reason the Terps fell just shy of an NCAA tourney berth. Now many teams have players leave early for the NBA, but when you have players stay for all four years and don't come away with a degree it makes the program and even the university look bad. Of course a lot of the blame can be put on Gary Williams, who doesn't seem to instill in the minds of his players the importance of academics. It would be one thing if the team were playing well, but it seems like each year they fall short of their potential. Maybe if Gary forces them to do better in the classroom it will give them the discipline they need to perform better on the court as well.