Even under the colleges' newly liberalized system for counting athlete graduations, the rates show averages of just 64 percent for football players and 58 percent for men's basketball. Dozens of teams, especially in men's basketball, have virtually no athletes reaching the academic finish line. And the top-25 ranks in football and men's basketball are middling at best. The current No. 1 and 2 in basketball, Duke and Connecticut, have 50 percent rates of basketball player graduations.


...The organization soon will decide whether to impose penalties on teams graduating fewer than half of their athletes. Consequences could include losses of scholarships, restrictions on recruiting and bans on post-season play.

The NCAA mustn't back off from these intentions. Nor can it let schools crowd athletes into soft courses and curriculums that lead nowhere. Universities exist to educate students and give them futures, not to exploit them. When they are true to that principle, the athletes always win. So do the universities.