U of L, UK and WKU athletic programs get the APR all clear

Every sports program at Kentucky’s three Football Bowl Subdivision-playing schools exceeded the 930-point low threshold in the NCAA’s latest round of Academic Progress Rate scores released Wednesday.

University of Louisville, University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky teams as a result will face no sanctions related to graduation rates which the APR has measured over rolling four-year periods for the last decade.

• U of L APR highlights included the football team’s first perfect score. Eight other sports, including men’s basketball, also posted 1,000s. Last week, men’s basketball and women’s golf teams were honored for their multiyear APR, which ranks in the top 10 percent of their respective sport.

• At Kentucky, the men’s basketball program reached a perfect score for the 2012-2013 academic year, the most recent measured. UK’s football number stuck out — a 932 for 2012-2013 and a 937 four-year average. But overall, the Wildcats were solid, with 18 of 22 programs bettering their numbers from last year.

• All WKU programs exceeded the 930 mark by at least 16 points, the first time in a given year since the APR started that all the Hilltoppers’ programs got above the required minimum in the same year.

• Indiana also received good news this week. It saw 15 of its 24 sports post perfect scores in the most recent release. Additionally, coach Tom Crean’s basketball team notched its fourth straight 1,000, the only Big Ten Conference hoops squad to do so.

Programs below 930 are subject to reduced practice time, scholarships and postseason bans as decided by the NCAA.

Jonathan Lintner can be reached at (502) 582-4199; follow him on Twitter @JonathanLintner.