SAVANNAH, Ga.- Savannah State University (SSU) head women’s basketball coach Cedric Baker received some good news when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) told him that the team is no longer subject to Academic Progress Report (APR) penalties and regains access to postseason competition for the 2015-16 academic year.
Baker was happy to get the news. “We are grateful for the opportunity. The NCAA sub-committee went back and examined our files and made the adjustments to relieve us of our penalties for postseason play,” Baker said.
With the adjusted calculations, SSU has a multi-year score of 927 and the women’s basketball program has access to the longer transition afforded to limited resource institutions.
In May 2015, the NCAA notified SSU that the women’s basketball team had a score of 923 for the 2013-14 year, and multi-year APR of 905, falling short of the 920 benchmark set by the NCAA for limited resource institutions.
SSU appealed the penalty and as part of the appeals process, the scores were recalculated and SSU was notified that the program did not fall short of the 920 benchmark.
Savannah State athletics director Sterling Steward, Jr. was also happy about the news.
“I would like to thank the NCAA for reviewing and accepting our additional information,” said Steward. “We are excited and look forward to defending our title at this year’s MEAC Championship.”
For the upcoming APR that will reflect the 2014-15 year, SSU women’s basketball has earned a max team score of 1,000.
Courtesy: SSU Athletics
