Excellent news for WSU as NCAA releases APR scores for 2014-15

The NCAA released its annual Academic Progress Ratings for all of its member schools today, and the news was all good for WSU: Football posted its best four-year rolling average ever, and all of the other 14 athletic programs -- including men's basketball -- are in solid shape and not in any danger of suffering any sanctions anytime soon.

WSU football posted a single-year score of 962, slightly down from last year's 973, but high enough to raise the program's four-year rolling average to an all-time high of 965. Men's basketball -- which narrowly avoided sanctions a year ago -- posted a single-year score of 944 (down nearly 20 points from last season), but the rolling average climbed to a comfortable 949 thanks to a dreadful score of 900 from 2010-11 dropping off the average.

A team must post a four-year rolling average of at least 930 in order to avoid sanctions from the NCAA, which could include a postseason ban or loss of scholarships.

Among WSU's other sports, the four-year averages ranged from 966 (men's track) to a perfect 1000 (women's cross country), with women's cross country, women's track, women's and men's golf, and tennis posting perfect single-year scores.

It doesn't appear that any programs are in major danger of facing sanctions next year, though the men's basketball situation bears watching, since four players are transferring.

It looks like both Que Johnson and Valentine Izundu are leaving the program in good standing as graduate transfers; Ny Redding was named to the conference's all-academic team, so we can assume things are OK there. If those three are in good standing at the end of the year, everything should be fine, even though a pretty good score of 962 will be dropping off the average. The three-year average is 944, meaning it would require a score of 883 to drop the Cougs all the way down below 930 -- and that almost certainly won't happen.

APR measures retention and progress toward graduation, and each scholarship athlete has the potential to pick up four points for the team -- one point each semester for finishing the term and one point each semester for being eligible to play during that term. For example, in basketball, if all 13 scholarships are awarded and all players are enrolled both semesters, there are 52 possible points to be earned. Divide the points earned by the points earned by the points possible and multiply by 1000 to get the nice, round number you see reported.

Here's a historical look at WSU's APR scores: