The Academic Progress Rate, a measure designed to roughly measure the academic performance of student-athletes that was instituted by the NCAA in 2005, has mainly been the scourge of schools that already have insufficient resources. While Southern and Grambling struggle to move beyond the post-season bans brought on by a failure to meet the required APR, the power conferences remain mostly unscathed by the increased academic requirements. The past year was an exception, however, when none other than the national champion, Connecticut, received a two-scholarship penalty and notice that future violations could result in much more severe penalties, including a postseason ban.
The ACC, in the short history of APR, has largely been untroubled by the sanctions that result from this policy. The exception, however, has been Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech had the number of men’s basketball scholarships it could offer reduced by two during the 2007-08 season, and this year will have to work around another scholarship reduction. For a Yellow Jackets team that is coming off a disastrous season, has a new head coach, and that will basically have no true home court for the coming season (splitting time at the Arena in Gwinnett and Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta while awaiting completion of a new home), the scholarship reduction seems like salt in an already significant wound. While new head coach Brian Gregory seems cautiously optimistic, it looks like Georgia Tech may have to juggle far too many problems at once.
On the positive side, the conference as a whole has done very well at meeting the Academic Progress Rate requirements. Outside of Georgia Tech, Florida State is the only school that is dangerously close to missing the APR cutoff, scoring a 926 last year when the cutoff for immediate penalties is at 925. The rest of the conference seems to be in pretty good shape, with Duke , North Carolina State, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech all receiving APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA, and the others safely above the cut line (currently, and at the 930 cut line which goes into effect soon).