SU seeks postseason waiver
The surging Southern men’s basketball team, currently banned from the postseason because of its substandard Academic Progress Rate, has asked the NCAA to reconsider its penalty.
Interim Athletic Director Sandy Pugh confirmed Sunday that Southern has submitted a waiver request to the NCAA, asking that the team be allowed to play in the postseason if it qualifies.
Pugh said the matter is in the hands of the NCAA, which did not give Southern a timetable for its decision.
The APR is a rolling four-year system that measures classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I team.
Southern’s most recent multiyear APR score (852) fell well below the NCAA’s current benchmark score (900) for avoiding severe penalties.
That multiyear score covered 2006-07 through 2009-10, during which Rob Spivery coached the SU men’s basketball team.
At the moment, because of the NCAA postseason ban, Southern is prohibited from playing in next month’s SWAC tournament, of which the winner earns an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
The Jaguars, under first-year coach Roman Banks, have won seven of their past eight games and are 8-2 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play, two games behind first-place Mississippi Valley State.
Southern plays at Jackson State at 7:30 p.m. Monday.