HARTFORD, Conn. — Changes in NCAA rules adopted Thursday would keep defending national champion Connecticut from participating in the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Under the rules adopted by the NCAA’s Division I board of directors, a school cannot participate in the 2013 tournament unless it has a two-year average score of 930 or a four-year average of 900 on the NCAA’s annual Academic Progress Rate, which measures the academic performance of student athletes.
Connecticut’s men’s basketball scored 826 for the 2009-10 school year. The score for the 2010-11 year is expected to be approximately 975, although it’s not official until May. It would give Connecticut a two-year score of 900.5 and a four-year average of 888.5.
Connecticut is hoping the NCAA might use numbers from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. The 2011-12 numbers are not expected to be released until May 2013, after the tournament is played.
• Kansas forward Thomas Robinson hyperextended his left knee during practice, but coach Bill Self said the junior is not expected to miss any “significant time.”
Footnotes.
In response to a fuel fire next to Regan Smith‘s hauler at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last weekend, NASCAR has banned the use of power tools when teams are transferring fuel.
• Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley is accusing Joel Bell, his former agent and an AAU coach, of conspiring to forge a relationship with him from the age of 14 and giving his mother improper cash benefits while Beasley starred at Kansas State, all in an effort to land the basketball prodigy as a client.
• Jerome Jackson, an attorney for Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt who is defending the franchise against a lawsuit by San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow, predicted a jury will place some of the blame on the brained-damaged victim of the vicious opening-day beating. “I’ve been doing these cases for 23 years, and I have never seen one yet which it didn’t take at least two people to tango,” Jackson said.
• Rory McIlroy shot an 8-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan after the first round of the Shanghai Masters.Denver Post wire services
