A University of Central Florida study lauds an improved graduation rate for black men’s basketball student-athletes among the nation’s top teams competing in the NCAA tournament.
The analysis by UCF’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that the Graduation Success Rate for black basketball players for institutions participating in the tournament rose from 69 percent in 2015 to 75 percent this year. The Graduation Success Rate for white men’s basketball student-athletes on tournament teams remained 93 percent.
“The 2016 report brings the best news for the academic progress of African-American student-athletes since we have been publishing this report (in 2003),” said study author Richard Lapchick, the director of the institute. “Although there was a great improvement, the most troubling statistic in our study is the still-too-large disparity between…white basketball student-athletes and African-American basketball student-athletes.”
The report also noted that the graduation rate for black basketball student-athletes far exceeds the 42 percent graduation rate for all black male college students.
Eleven of the 68 NCAA tournament teams have 100 percent Graduation Success Rates for their men’s basketball student-athletes: Butler, Holy Cross, Duke, Middle Tennessee State, Dayton, Iowa, Kansas, Notre Dame, Texas, Villanova and Weber State.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport serves as a comprehensive resource for issues related to gender and race in amateur, collegiate and professional sport. The institute researches and publishes a variety of studies, including annual studies of student‐athlete graduation rates and racial attitudes in sport, as well as the internationally recognized Racial and Gender Report Card, an assessment of hiring practices in coaching and sport management in professional and college sport.
The institute is part of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program in the University of Central Florida’s College of Business Administration.