Duke and Ramar will leave in good standing

There has been some concern among Vol fans that in addition to hurting Tennessee on the hardwood, the departure of Ramar Smith and Duke Crews would hurt us in the NCAA’s APR, a measurement of academic progress for student athletes in each sport. This was especially a concern since academics had been mentioned as a cause for their dismissal/transfer.

According to Bruce, we shouldn’t be worried about this. The choice was his, and both players will leave UT in good academic standing:

“There’s a perception that I had to dismiss Ramar and Duke,” Pearl said. “That’s not accurate. There was nothing mandated for anything academic or anything with drug testing that mandated my not having those guys back. This was my choice. These guys are leaving us academically eligible.”

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/SPORTS0601/80515119

The rest of the article talks about potential changes to the APR and the way the NCAA views transfers. I happen to agree with Bruce that transfers happen for many reasons, a lot of them positive for the kids and the schools. We should be careful how we view them.

On the one-and-dones, the saga with O.J. Mayo at USC is showing us that the new rule is going to mean trouble. The potential for agent manipulation, $1,000 handshakes, and the like will be higher than ever. This has largely been seen as a good change, allowing us all to watch the Odens, Beasleys, and Roses of the world before they get to the NBA, but we are starting to see the dark side. I’d prefer two years, minimum, perhaps with an option to go pro straight out of high school reintroduced.