Duke football won a game-750 days ago.
But if academic prowess counted, the team-with one of the highest graduation rates in the country-would sweep any tournament.
Six University of North Carolina-system universities, however, have at least one athletic team that does not meet the low benchmark of the Academic Progress Rate, a standard set in 2005 by the NCAA to help predict graduation rates.
"The APR measures retention and eligibility [by each university's standards]," said Assistant Director of Athletics Bradley Berndt. "It's just a one-year snapshot of what our student athletes did during the 2006-2007 year."
The UNC Board of Governors recently met to discuss problems with the schools that failed to meet the standard.
Teams at East Carolina University, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, Western Carolina University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University could lose valuable scholarships if they do not bolster predicted graduation rates, which in some cases were as low as 60 percent. If a team's score drops below 925 out of 1000 in the assessment, they are sanctioned.
"The ultimate punishment would be [that] you would lose the opportunity to participate in NCAA tournaments," Berndt said.
Some schools have already lost athletic scholarships, he added.
The board discussed methods of improving APR levels such as recruiting students who fit the university, establishing rigid standards of academic performance, improving academic support systems and fostering better communication between coaches and support systems.
"First and foremost you've got to make sure you're bringing in students who want to be at that institution," Berndt said. "In fairness to other institutions, they are dealing with things we don't have to deal with."
Transfer rates-which negatively affect retention scores-are much higher at public universities, he said.
"You could have, theoretically, a team drop below the cutoff score if it's a small team of students who are doing fine academically but who are transferring out," said John Blanchard, senior associate athletic director at UNC-Chapel Hill.
He said that although the APR process is too new to be certain, when used in conjunction with other progress indicators, it keeps students academically accountable.
"There's a lot of dancing around graduation rates," he said. "The APR is tighter. It really helps firm up more accurately the real-time [graduation] status of the team."
To help counteract the method's flaws, the NCAA has established squad-sized adjustments-so that a very small team is not penalized until enough data is collected, Blanchard added.
The effects of the method will be most evident when basketball season rolls around.
"Unless there's dramatic improvement by some schools you'll see some significant sanctioning of men's basketball teams across the country," Blanchard said.
Schools are now looking to universities with high APRs for guidance, with a four-year evaluation of annual academic snapshots approaching.
"I think the whole key to [Duke's] high APR rate is we do a great job on our front end," said Chris Kennedy, associate director of athletics. "Our coaches are very careful and selective about who they recruit. If they're not a good fit as a student, they don't recruit them."
Senior free safety Chris Davis said he is happy with the academic support systems at Duke.
"There are so many resources that are available to us," he said. "They provide tutors if we need them [and] the teachers here are very willing to help you out."
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