NCAA's changes to grad rates long overdue

Graduation rates in college basketball have been a disappointment. Everyone knows that. Cincinnati has been the poster-boy program. Everyone knows that, too.

But what if everyone was wrong?

In this case, the system has been the problem. The system has been screwed up. And the NCAA, bless it, is ready to heal thyself.

Mevin Levett, a Bearcat from 1995-99, is back at Cincinnati to earn his degree. (Getty Images)

"Things are about to change," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said.

For the better. As if it could get any worse.

Under the old rules, devised by college graduates, a player who transferred from one Division I school to another counted as a zero against his previous school and didn't count at all, one way or the other, toward his new school -- even if he graduated in five years. Even if he graduated with honors. Even if he graduated No. 1 in his class.

"I graduated with a 3.89 GPA," Huggins said. "According to the NCAA, I didn't exist."

Huggins started his college career at Ohio University, then transferred to West Virginia.

This isn't about Cincinnati, though maybe it should be. It has always been about Cincinnati in the past. You know, because you read newspapers and watch television. Whenever the latest "graduation rates" hit the news and the hand-wringing commenced about the low rate at this school or that school, Cincinnati always came up.

There was a reason for the low "graduation rates" at certain schools, schools like Cincinnati: The system was rigged. It was rigged against schools that would stoop so low as to accept junior-college transfers, who didn't count toward the school's "graduation rate" even if they graduated in four years. It was rigged against schools that would accept transfers from other Division I schools, who also didn't count.

Most of all, it was rigged against schools that had a coach who told his players the truth: It would be better for them to leave school after their freshman season if they were guaranteed a spot in the NBA Draft lottery, or that it was OK to make a small fortune in Spain or Chile or Greece.

You can always return to school. You can't always make a six-figure salary playing a young man's game.