On Tuesday, we received our annual Academic Performance Rate from the NCAA. It gives me great joy to see Kentucky’s name alongside Vanderbilt’s atop the SEC’s APR standings. This is a reflection of what teamwork throughout our program and within our exceptional athletic department is capable of producing off the court. It truly is as important as our on-court success over the past two seasons (trips to the Eilte 8 and the Final 4).

I’ll again mention the incredible support staff at C.A.T.S. and Mike Stone and his staff and also commend each of our 21 other varsity teams for surpassing the NCAA “cutoff score” (925) with 16 of the 22 squads exceeding the national average for public universities in their sports.

When we talk about being the gold standard for college athletics, this emphasis on academics is another vital element of how UK maintains its status among college basketball’s elite programs.

Below is the press release sent out by the UK media Relations office and I hope you will take some time to comment below (by using your Facebook account) and congratulate our young men on an impressive display of academic dedication.

From UK Media Relations, May 24, 2011:

Men’s Basketball Ties for Top APR in SEC – Team posts 974 in Academic Progress Rate

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team posted a 974 in the Academic Progress Rate (APR) as released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

The score tied Vanderbilt for the highest APR score in the Southeastern Conference. It was a 20-point increase over last year and was good enough to be listed in the 80th-90th percentile for their sport.

In 2009, the Wildcats received an NCAA public recognition award for its APR score of 979 for placing in the top 10 percent of the nation’s Division I men’s basketball APR scores.

The 974 score is a four-year composite, covering the 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years, that measures academic eligibility and retention of student-athletes.

-RTL-