U. hoops in danger of penalty by NCAA

INDIANAPOLIS — Revisions to the NCAA's new report card on academic standards moved dozens of teams off the failing list, but dropped others into danger of punishment — including the University of Utah men's basketball team.

The adjustments released Monday by the NCAA resulted in nine football programs and six men's basketball teams moving above the cutoff line for possible penalties, which could include the loss of scholarships.

The most prominent programs revised to now have passing scores are the men's basketball teams at Connecticut, Temple and Houston, along with the football teams at Oklahoma State and Wyoming.

The revisions also moved 20 teams that initially had passing scores to the failing list, including the football teams at Tennessee and Mississippi State, the men's basketball teams at Iowa, Utah and Washington, and UCLA women's basketball.

The NCAA said the revisions to the preliminary report released in February leave 61 football teams, or 26 percent, below the cutoff score, the worst of any sport. The next worst sports were baseball, with a 21.5 percent failure rate, and men's basketball at 18.4 percent.

Overall, 10 percent of men's teams did not meet the academic standards; 2.6 percent of women's teams were subpar.

The schools had through March to correct any reporting errors. Some schools criticized the initial results, pointing out errors and saying low scores could hurt recruiting.

Teams that consistently fall below the cutoff could face sanctions including scholarship losses.

No penalties will be enforced until data from the 2004-05 school year are included. Stronger penalties, such as bans on postseason play, are expected to be enforced by the fall of 2008.