Duke mens basketball compromises academic standards more than any other sport at any other school in the country or world.
"If the University's founder could only see the school
now. Today, Duke sacrifices its academic principles
for a star basketball team... President Nan Keohane
and other university presidents should take a stand in
the NCAA for change. It is time that Duke stops
exploiting its student-athletes. Allowing them to
coast their way through an institution of higher
learning--without actually learning much, without
actually receiving a lesson on how to lead their
lives--is unacceptable."
<a href="http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=23279" target="_blank">http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=23279</a>
That's the consensus opinion of the Chronicle
editors not to mention the student body, alumni, and
probably every single professor and administrator. Sean
Dockery got a Duke scholarship even though he can't qualify
for minimum standards of NCAA eligibility even though
he goes to what local writers call the worst school in
Chicago, which probably means it is as bad as any in the
whole country. Rob Matera of bobgibbons.net wrote that
Dockery told him his low score, and the Chicago Tribune
reported his 2.3 GPA and 15 ACT. It's extremely common for
recruits to tell reporters their GPA/ACT, in fact the best
gurus, superprep, lists GPA and SAT/ACT for every
single football recruit in the country no matter how
low, recruits just don't seem to care and why should
they since they can get a scholarship almost anywhere they
want? They do care a lot more about their bball skills
but fans who've never played bball in their lives feel
free to criticize that while those same fans feel
1400+ SAT Duke students shouldn't comment on whether a
kid way below 820 could handle their university,
strange.
<a href="http://www.chicagosports.com/preps/content/story/0,1984,155576,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.chicagosports.com/preps/content/story/0,1984,155576,00.html</a>
There have been many Duke players just in recent years
who have been suspended, dropped out without coming
back, or failed to graduate, Sweet, Carrawell, Avery,
Maggette, Brand, Price, Newton, Capel, etc. Avery only
went to class 3 times all semester before dropping out
according to the Chronicle in a 4/12/99 article linked
below, I knew a starter who skipped most of his small
group classes, it's disappointing especially given
Avery's history because many if not most other
programs make sure their players attend class.
<a href="http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=15571" target="_blank">http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=15571</a>
What's most disturbing is Duke officials said Avery
was on track to stay eligible and graduate when he
dropped out, what exactly would it take to suspend the
only PG on a title favorite? Sweet wasn't a starter
but he did make honor roll all 4 years in a bad HS and
barely qualified. SAT/ACT is the only objective
national standard, but Dockery's poor GPA in what
local writers call the worst school in Chicago doesn't
inspire confidence about his ability to handle Duke
academics even if he didn't have to concentrate on
bball. Banks was recruited before K when NCAA rules
were different or nonexistent, NCSU's Chris Washburn
in the mid 80s reportedly had a 470 SAT yet was
eligible and played. Dockery said in a 7/18 Chronicle
article:
"My first conversation with Coach K was not about
basketball, it was about academics," Dockery told the
Chicago Sun-Times. "He assured me that Duke had the
support system to help me and they have a 95 percent
graduation rate as a team. He said that he expects me
to graduate no matter if I leave early or not."
<a href="http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=23098" target="_blank">http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/story.php?article_id=23098</a>
What are the odds Dockery would major in sociology? K
has said some majors at Duke are easier than others
when asked if recruits are scared off by Duke
academics. Most mens bballers seem to major in
sociology which may be the easiest major at Duke, and
all the rest seem to major in other easy noncurved
social science type majors, although goduke strangely
doesn't list mens bball majors unlike for every other
Duke sports including womens bball, football, etc.
Steering unprepared recruits into easy majors is what
basketball or football factories are supposed to do,
not Duke.
All other sports except mens bball have much higher
standards, although Franks asked for and received
relaxed admissions standards before coming to Duke and
has been offering ten times as many recruits as
before, including unqualified ones like Derek Morris
of NC who had a 2.5 GPA and hadn't even taken the SAT.
This is part of a disturbing recent trend of relaxing
standards in both football which used to win awards
for having the nation's best grad rates, and
basketball, especially after the 95 season. Before 95,
Duke recruited scholars like Domzalski and
Christensen, whose father is a Rhodes scholar Harvard
prof, immediately afterwards when K saw the success of
UNC with academic jokes like Wallace, he claimed he
had been making recruiting mistakes and went after
kids who barely qualified like Carrawell, James, Avery
(1.4 GPA before transferring to bball factory Oak Hill
for senior year, detailed in link below), Sanders,
Sweet, Ewing (840 SAT), Dockery, etc. Duke even
recruited and was considered a favorite for Boozer's
friend Deshawn Stevenson, who went pro after his SAT
jumped from a 450 to 1150 and he refused to retest.
Duke mens bball, with its 400-500 point difference
between team and average student SATs, and that
doesn't even reflect recent recruits after academic
standards went completely out the window, compromises
standards more than any other college sports program
in the nation, and that's clearly unacceptable.
<a href="http://augustachronicle.com/stories/111396/avery.html" target="_blank">http://augustachronicle.com/stories/111396/avery.html</a>
95% grad rate for bball is even higher than Duke's
grad rate for 1400 SAT students who need their degrees
for their futures and don't need to spend massive
amounts of time on bball, impressive and interesting.
Minnesota's average SAT is 1200, yet their tutors had
to cheat massively and do the work for players just to
keep them eligible even though their grad rates were
much lower than Duke's and the bball SAT difference
couldn't possibly have been as extreme. 25% of Fresno
State's students scored 800 or less on SAT and in a
documentary called "Between the Madness" a tutor
appeared to be almost writing a paper for Anthony
Roberson's cousin Terrance Roberson, who had to sit
out a year for academics, but their grad rate is
nowhere near Duke's. What exactly must be going on at
Duke to keep these barely qualified athletes eligible
and graduating at one of the toughest schools in the
nation? I think the Chronicle was referring to tutors
and support systems when they wrote that Duke was
selling out academics. We'll soon see Duke's graduation
rates get flushed down the toilet along with its academic
standards and integrity, with the failure of players like
Carrawell, Brand, Avery, Maggette, and even Christensen,
to graduate in 6 years, and the transfers of players like
Chappell and Burgess, only 2 of the last 9 Duke players
will count towards NCAA grad rates.
Keohane needs to stand up to K like she did with
Avery, only successfully this time, and she and
admissions director Guttentag need to explain how this
was allowed to happen. It's obviously not in K's best
interest to constantly recruit players who are
completely unprepared for Duke and not even top 20/30,
especially when smarter national POY types like Baron
Davis, Casey Jacobsen, and others are begging to play
for the Crazies, but hopefully this won't become a
matter of power and ego over logic, because we all
know which K runs things. Recruiting an unqualified
student who would struggle so much at Duke when he
could have his pick of most other schools is morally
wrong. Bringing in an athlete just to win and make
money at the expense of his own education and
potential development both as a player and student is
the worst kind of exploitation in college sports.
/
Dockery; Is Duke a basketball factory?
