Alcorn basketball hit with postseason ban

LORMAN, Mississippi -- Academic trouble is leading to athletic trouble for Alcorn State and a few other schools in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Alcorn’s men’s basketball team received a postseason ban for the 2015-16 season when its Academic Progress Report score stayed below the NCAA’s threshold of 930 for the second consecutive year.

APR measures the academic progress of student-athletes. Every Division I team is scored, with student-athletes earning one point each semester they remain eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating.

Teams are subject to NCAA penalties if their multi-year APR falls below 930. Alcorn’s basketball team had a score of 893 in 2012-13, and 839 for 2013-14. The latter is the academic year this year’s APR is based on.

The low APR made Alcorn’s basketball team eligible for a level two penalty, which includes restrictions on practice time and a postseason ban.

No other athletic programs at Alcorn State were sanctioned. The football program, which had a 915 APR in 2012-13, raised that to 931 in 2013-14.

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