The Boston Globe’s Derrick Jackson notes that while the NCAA can claim some success in fostering a true student-athlete policy–’the overall graduation rate for [Division 1] basketball was up nearly 10 percentage points over the last eight years’–it has failed to close the gap between graduation rates for black and white athletes; or to punish schools that severely and chronically underperform in academics.

The NCAA says 56 percent of black basketball players now graduate from Division 1 teams, continuing a slow increase. White players have an 81 percent graduation rate [but] there is a huge gap between those teams and and the teams that take graduation seriously. Of the 65 teams, there were 24 with black graduation rates of 67 percent or higher. But there were also 28 teams with black graduation rates of 44 percent or lower. Other teams under 30 percent for black players were New Mexico State, Washington, Missouri, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Baylor.