Kentucky Athletes’ Student Profile

Kentucky Athletes’ Student Profile April 7, 2014

Brad Wolverton:

Dallas — Every year around this time, a handful of elite freshmen declare their eligibility for the NBA draft. Kentucky, which is expected to start five freshmen in its national semifinal game on Saturday against Wisconsin, could have four or five players leave early.

Over the past eight seasons, Kentucky has had 13 “one-and-done” players—more than twice as many as any other program, according to The Washington Post. The team has taken its share of criticism for the tally over the years, with many people complaining about its supposed disregard of academics.

But how do the students stack up in the classroom? I thought it would only be fair to examine the team’s academic results over the past few years and to explore the records of a few one-and-done players.

It turns out, the team’s NCAA Graduation Success Rate has improved sharply in recent years, to more than 80 percent (it was 44 percent a few years ago). And in the past two years, its NCAA Academic Progress Rate, which measures team members’ real-time progress toward degrees, has exceeded the national average. Over the last three years, the team has had a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average.


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