Dreaming about hoops, not education

WHEN second-ranked Memphis learned it would be a top seed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division 1 men's basketball tournament, player Chris Douglas-Roberts said, "We created those expectations before the year even started and that's what we're living up to."

Memphis Coach John Calipari said, "Put your hands behind your heads, smile and enjoy this. You shouldn't be dissecting. . . . Stop. Just enjoy this." He also said, "If you're Memphis, you want it no other way. Make it as hard as you can make it. Every player, every coach, it's been our life, so why change now?"

Ah, if only the expectations were the same for Memphis players to stop and use their heads to dissect a book. It is clear that education is not their life. The graduation rate of black players at Memphis is 33 percent.

At third-ranked UCLA, expectations are high with another top seed. "We're in the path that we want to be in," said UCLA coach Ben Howland. Freshman star Kevin Love was already looking past the opening round to declare, "I've always dreamed of playing for UCLA against Duke."

Graduating is only a daydream. The graduation rate for UCLA's black players is 30 percent.

Fourth-ranked Tennessee earned only a number-two seed in the tournament. Coach Bruce Pearl said, "We're disappointed about being on the two line, considering the body of work." He also said, "I remember getting a two seed a couple years ago and we about jumped off the couches and through the TV screens and now we're all bummed about a two seed."

If only they were to jump off the couches and turn off the TV to buff up their body of schoolwork. The graduation rate for Tennessee's black players is 25 percent. That is the real bummer.

After fifth-ranked Kansas earned a top seed with a tough victory over sixth-ranked Texas this past weekend, Kansas coach Bill Self said, "I think it was good for us. We desperately needed this tournament." Self also said, "I don't know if your ultimate goal is to be a number-one seed. Your ultimate goal is to keep advancing."

Kansas has a more desperate need to advance in the classroom. The graduation rate of its black players is 33 percent.

Last and least is Texas, ranked sixth in last week's Associated Press Top 25. Coach Rick Barnes has taken the Longhorns to the NCAAs in all 10 of his seasons. "I'm happy for our guys because I told them, you don't ever take going to this tournament for granted," Barnes said. "It's something we won't ever take for granted."

We know what is taken for granted to get to the NCAAs. The graduation rate for black players at Texas is 22 percent.

After top-ranked North Carolina, which plays great ball and graduates its black players at a 75 percent rate and 86 percent overall, Memphis, UCLA, Tennessee, Kansas, and Texas should be banned from the tournament with an average graduation success rate of 29 percent for its black players.

Add the 40 percent black graduation rate of eighth-ranked Wisconsin, and the majority of the Associated Press Top 10 men's teams should not be in the tournament. College sports reformers have long said that teams that have a graduation rate under 50 percent should not be allowed in tournaments and bowl games.

This is made more embarrassing by the fact that the NCAA no longer penalizes schools in what they call the Graduation Success Rate for star players who leave early, as long they left in good standing. The current rates are based on scholarship athletes who entered school from the fall of 1997 through the fall of 2000 and graduated within six years.

As is my custom, my annual look at the graduation rates focuses on black players because they are the canary in the college coal mine, making up 57 percent of Division 1 scholarship men's basketball players, more than four times their share of the US population.

Near-perennial New England tournament representative Connecticut is among the worst of all, with a black player graduation rate of only 13 percent.

Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.