Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Prepare to change the way you think about the NCAA.

Set aside your preconceived notions. Forget about that whole Sugar Bowl fiasco which allowed Ohio State to beat Arkansas with five ineligible players on the field. Dismiss any negative feelings you have the body that governs college athletics.

This is the day the NCAA folks — at least ones overseeing academics — prove to be a merciful bunch.

Merciful? The NCAA?

Yep. Consider this...

Academic Progress Rate figures and accompanying penalties for 2009-10 were released today. Once again the Razorback basketball program failed to meet the minimum score of 925 set by the NCAA and they’ll lose a scholarship for it.

While the penalty of a lost scholarship — which means the potential of one less player — might seem steep, it could have been much worse. Satisfied that Arkansas is taking steps to correct the problem, the loss of practice time penalty wasn’t included.

So say what you want about the NCAA. But don’t ever say the body that governs college athletics isn’t capable of showing some mercy. Those kind-hearted folks in Indianapolis took it easy on the Arkansas basketball program again this year.

And I do mean “again.”

Keep in mind these penalties could have been assessed last year. That means Arkansas should actually be staring at the loss of additional scholarships and a postseason ban. That’s how the NCAA keeps programs from consistently underperforming when judged by the APR’s four-year scoring metric.

But those benevolent NCAA suits reviewed Arkansas’ written appeal and found enough merit to follow up with a conference call. There’s a 755 score from a few years back (it will be with the Razorbacks a couple more years), but the school is doing all it can to improve.

“We got some relief,” said Jon Fagg, Arkansas’ athletic director in charge of compliance.