NEWS » the field and never topped a 16 player efficiency rating i

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The NCAA announced Tuesday that 77 percent of black mens Division I basketball players who entered college in 2009 earned a degree within six years, up five points from a year earlier and a record high.That improvement helped the overall Graduation Success Rate match last years record of 86 percent of athletes graduating within six years, the NCAA said. Of all black Division I student-athletes, 74 percent graduated within six years. NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a news release the improved rates were hugely significant.Over the last 15 years, the overall Graduation Success Rate has dramatically improved, but the really good news is how college sports helps more and more minority students, especially those playing our highest-profile sport, earn a degree that will help them long after their athletics career is over, he said.The graduation rate for black basketball players is up 31 percentage points over the past 15 years, the NCAA said . Overall, all black male athletes have increased their GSR by 19 percentage points to 70 percent during that time. Black female athletes improved their rate 13 points to 84 percent over that same time.For all Division I athletes, the rate increased 12 percentage points during the past 15 years.B. David Ridpath, an associate professor and sports business and president of The Drake Group, an NCAA watchdog, said the GSR provides only a partial picture, pointing to reports of athletes at North Carolina taking courses aimed at boosting their GPAs in a department popular with athletes.Are we essentially practicing eligibility maintenance, potentially in a major with friendly faculty? he said. Are these kids graduating with a very meaningful, vital degree that can benefit them for the next 50 to 60 years of their life? In some cases, yes, this is happening. But all too often -- and I know this because I worked in college athletics -- were essentially pushing these kids through, keeping them eligible and in cases where they do graduate they might not be graduating with the requisite skills.Among football teams in The Associated Press Top 25 , the only teams with a GSR 65 percent or lower were No. 25 Troy at 65 percent and No. 13 Oklahoma State at 50 percent. Among Top 25 mens basketball teams , No. 4 Oregon had a GSR of 38 percent, No. 25 California 40 percent, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 24 Cincinnati all had GSRs of 50 percent, and No. 13 Michigan State has a GSR of 63 percent.The University of Connecticut mens basketball team had one of the lower graduation rates at 22 percent, according to the latest results. But those 2009 numbers were actually a big improvement over previous years. The teams GSR rose from just 8 percent in 2006, 17 percent the following year and 20 percent in 2008.School spokesman Mike Enright said the poor graduation rate reflects the same time period for which UConn was sanctioned by the NCAA and missed the 2013 postseason because of an another indicator, the Academic Progress Rate, which measures whether players are in good academic standing.The school has reported perfect or near perfect APR scores since 2012-13 and is expecting similar numbers this year, Enright said. He also said all current members of the basketball team are on track to graduate.The academic achievement of our mens basketball team has been outstanding the past several years and I have a full expectation that this will continue, athletic director David Benedict said.---AP Sports Writer Pat Eaton-Robb in Storrs, Connecticut, contributed to this report. Wholesale Air Jordan 6 Australia . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Air Jordan 6 Cheap Australia . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . http://www.airjordan6australia.com/ . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Air Jordan 6 Australia . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Cheap Air Jordan 6 Australia . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Eric Gordon and the Houston Rockets?have agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal, a source told ESPNs Chris Broussard.The agreement was first reported by The Vertical.The Rockets had a busy Saturday. Before reaching the deal with Gordon, they also agreed to terms with power forward Ryan Anderson, his agent told ESPNs Marc Stein.Finding another outside shooter to complement newly hired coach Mike DAntonis up-tempo offensive system was next.Gordon has never played a full 82-game season, but he was snagged to give shooting guard James Harden another playmaker on offense, something Harden and DAntoni talked about prior to the start of free agency.Gordon, 27, arrived in New Orleans in the 2011 offseason as the prize of the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers.But Gordons career with the Hornets/Pelicans has been defined by his time off the court. The former seventh overall pick out of Indiana played just nine games in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, and he has missed an average of 29 games per season since. In large part because of injuries, the eight-year veteran never turned into the offensive dynamo he seemed to be ready to become after averaging 22.3 points per game with an 18.56 player efficiency rating in his third and final sseason with the Clippers.ddddddddddddGordon averaged a respectable 15.3 points and 39 percent shooting on 3s in five seasons with New Orleans, but he routinely shot in the low 40s from the field and never topped a 16 player efficiency rating in a season when he played double-digit games.After rejecting a four-year extension from the then-Hornets in January 2012, Gordon signed a maximum offer sheet worth $58 million over four years with the Phoenix Suns that summer to play for then-coach Alvin Gentry. Despite Gordons declaration via a statement that Phoenix is just where my heart is now, New Orleans matched the deal for the restricted free agent.Gentry was hired as Pelicans coach last offseason, and Gordons first season under him resulted in a 56.6 true shooting percentage -- the highest of the guards New Orleans career.But Gordon finished 2015-16 ranked 27th among shooting guards in real plus-minus (minus-0.48) and missed 37 games after breaking the ring finger on his right (shooting) hand twice as the Pelicans sputtered to a 30-52 record.Information from ESPN.coms Calvin Watkins and Justin Verrier was used in this report. ' ' '