March Madness 2015 – Academic Style | Beyond College Rankings

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March Madness 2015 – Academic Style

It’s March, it’s 2015, and it’s time again for the NCAA tournament bracket, with winners organized by the academic achievements of the school with respect to the men’s basketball program. Methodology at the bottom. The complete ranking follows here, but the photographs of how the bracket would look at left are more fun.

1. University of Texas
2. Indiana University
3. Belmont University
4. University of Kansas
5. University of Louisville
6. Duke University
7. University of Notre Dame
8. University of Northern Iowa
9. Lafayette College
10. Davidson College
11. University of Kentucky
12. University of Georgia
13. Purdue University
14. Butler University
15. University of Dayton
16. Northeastern University
17. University of Arizona
18. Villanova University
19. University of Alabama, Birmingham
20. Michigan State University
21. Valparaiso University
22. Gonzaga University
23. University of Utah
24. Ohio State University
25. University of Wisconsin
26. University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)
27. West Virginia University
28. Georgetown University
29. University of Iowa
30. Virginia Commonwealth University
31. Texas Southern University
32. University of California, Los Angeles
33. University at Albany
34. Stephen F. Austin University
35. Harvard University
36. Wofford College
37. Wichita State University
38. New Mexico State University
39. University of Oklahoma
40. North Carolina State University
41. University of North Florida
42. Eastern Washington University
43. University of California, Irvine
44. University of Cincinnati
45. Xavier University
46. Brigham Young University
47. Manhattan College
48. North Dakota State University
49. Louisiana State University
50. Baylor University
51. University of Maryland, College Park
52. Georgia State University
53. Hampton University
54. Iowa State University
55. Oklahoma State University
56. Providence College
57. University at Buffalo
58. University of Virginia
59. University of Oregon
60. St. John’s University (NY)
61. University of Wyoming
62. Boise State University
63. San Diego State University
64. Southern Methodist University
65. University of North Carolina
66. Robert Morris College
67. University of Arkansas
68. Coastal Carolina University

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport annually releases data on the schools competing in the men’s college basketball Division 1 tournament, ultimately assigning each school a score (APR – Academic Progress Rate). Check out their excellent work here. This ranking – and the photographs of the accompanying bracket at left – follows the schools’ APR, with tie-breakers being settled through the schools’ 75% SAT score.

I played the data a bit more here to identify top 10 “overachievers” – schools whose APR rank among the field is much better than their SAT rank – and “underachievers” – schools whose APR rank is much worse than their SAT rank. Essentially what this shows is the men’s basketball team in comparison with the student body at large. Overachievers are schools where the men’s basketball team is on par with (or exceeds) the student body with regard to academic progress. Underachievers are schools where the men’s basketball team lags significantly behind the student body.

Overachievers

1. University of Northern Iowa
2. Texas Southern University
3. University of Louisville
4. West Virginia University
5. University of Kentucky
6. University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)
7. New Mexico State University
8. Stephen F. Austin University
9. University of Kansas
10. Valparaiso University

Underachievers

1. University of North Carolina
2. University of Virginia
3. Southern Methodist University
4. University of Maryland
5. Harvard University
6. Baylor University
7. Iowa State University
8. Brigham Young University
9. Georgetown University
10. University of California, Los Angeles

I like these “overachiever” and “underachiever” rankings because they highlight which schools’ athletes are really student-athletes or more athlete-students, at least in comparison with their peers. Most notable are Kentucky – the school often thought to care the least about the academic performance of its one-and-done superstar basketball players – and several of the underachievers, with academic powers including UNC, Virginia, Harvard, Georgetown, and UCLA all seriously underperforming. Step up your game!