By Noah Allison
U of L’s student athletes perform well in both the athletic and academic realms. Both the women’s golf team and men’s basketball team are among the top 10 percent in their respective sports’ Academic Progress Rate.
APR measures academic eligibility, retention and graduation for student-athletes. According to data released by the NCAA, both U of L programs have a perfect score of 1000 for the four-year period of 2009-13.
Amongst all men’s basketball accomplishments as of late in the 2013-14 academic year they boasted their highest ever-collective GPA at 3.40. 14 men’s basketball players earned a 3.0 GPA or better and they were 14 of 371 Cardinal student-athletes named to the 2013 Fall Semester U of L Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
Louisville men’s basketball earned the last three Big East Conference Team Academic Team Excellence Awards from 2011-2013. Senior forward Wayne Blackshear won the Final Four’s Elite 89 Award, which is awarded to the athlete with the highest GPA in the NCAA Final Four.
Academic excellence is stressed at the University of Louisville and the men’s basketball team displays on a national stage the standard of Louisville Cardinals.
“As much as we emphasize winning on the basketball court, we believe that winning in the classroom is equally important,” U of L Head Coach Rick Pitino said. “Our academic staff and players have been totally committed to getting the most out of their academic abilities and we’re really proud of their efforts.”
