NEW YORK – Sixty-five BIG EAST athletic teams have been recognized by the NCAA with Public Recognition Awards for outstanding academic achievement. To receive the award, teams must post scores in the top 10 percent of their sport, based on their most recent Academic Progress Rates (APR). The APR is an annual scorecard of academic achievement calculated for all Division I sports.
The BIG EAST is one of only five conferences to have more than 25 percent of its teams earning the APR recognition. The others are the Ivy League, Patriot League, Atlantic 10 and ACC.
Villanova has 15 recognized teams, the highest total for a BIG EAST school. Georgetown is second with 14. Butler, Creighton and DePaul follow with six teams each.
The APR Public Recognition Awards have been conducted for the past 12 years. Ninety-three teams nationally have earned APR recognition in all 12 years. The BIG EAST has six of those programs – Butler women’s golf, Butler women’s tennis, DePaul women’s basketball, Georgetown women’s field hockey, Georgetown women’s swimming and Xavier women’s tennis.
The APR scores for all Division I teams will be released by the NCAA on May 10. The APR measures eligibility, graduation and retention each semester or academic term and provides a clear picture of the academic performance for each team in every sport.