Sweet 16 Grad Rates Top Men’s

All but two of the Sweet 16 teams in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament graduated more than 50% of their players, a sharp contrast from the men’s Sweet 16, according to a study released Thursday.

Moreover, five of the final 16 teams in the women’s tournament graduated 100% of their African American players.

Stanford led the pack with an overall graduation rate of 93%, followed by Vanderbilt at 92%, Texas at 88% and Duke at 87%. UC Santa Barbara, the only Southland team in the tournament, was tied with Minnesota for the eighth-best rate at 77%

Santa Barbara, Duke, Louisiana State, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt had 100% rates for African American players.

By contrast, six of the Sweet 16 teams in the men’s tournament had rates below 50%, with four other schools’ figures suppressed by a new U.S. Department of Education privacy policy. Kansas had the highest men’s rate at 73%

Only seven of the 16 men’s teams released graduation-rate information for African American players, with Xavier’s 82% the best.

“It’s like two different worlds when you compare the graduation rates of men’s and women’s college basketball teams,” said report author Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

“It really is sweet in the world of women’s basketball, but it is overwhelmingly sour among the men.”

Next month, the NCAA is expected to pass new legislation that would reward schools with consistently high graduation rates and punish those with persistently low rates. Myles Brand, NCAA president, hopes the so-called Incentive-Disincentive program will increase graduation rates in sports that traditionally lag, particularly those in men’s basketball and Division I-A football.

-- Elliott Teaford

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Auburn women’s Coach Joe Ciampi retired, ending a quarter-century with a team he once led to three straight national championship games.

He is the 10th-winningest coach in the sport’s history (607-213), and he took the Tigers to the NCAA tournament 16 times.

Ciampi, 57, retired two days after the Tigers lost, 79-53, to defending champion Connecticut in the second round.

“I feel extremely fortunate that I’ve been able to coach at Auburn for 25 years, and now I feel it’s time for a change,” Ciampi said. “It’s time for family.”

Auburn’s three straight appearances in the title game, starting in 1988, all ended in losses. In the Southeastern Conference, Ciampi won three regular-season championships and four tournament titles.

Ciampi recommended that the school hire assistant coach Joanie O’Brien as his replacement.

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Diana Taurasi has done her best to get everyone involved for Connecticut. Now it’s time for her to take over.

So even if two more assists will make Taurasi the career leader for the Huskies, the two-time Naismith Award winner as national player of the year probably won’t be passing up too many open shots.

And that’s just fine with Geno Auriemma, coach of the NCAA champions the last two years.

“She understands that it’s winning time now, and I think she understands it better than anybody,” Auriemma said.

The second-seeded Huskies are two victories away from becoming the first team to reach five straight women’s Final Fours.

They play UC Santa Barbara -- at No. 11, the lowest-seeded team left in the tournament -- on Saturday in the East Regional in Hartford, Conn.

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Mary Fox made a three-point basket with 1:32 left to give Iowa State a 66-58 victory over Saint Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the WNIT in front of 14,092 at Ames, Iowa. The Cyclones (18-14) will play Nevada Las Vegas (25-7) in the semifinals.

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Regional Schedule

EAST

* Semifinals, Saturday at Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Conn.: Penn State (27-5) vs. Notre Dame (21-10), 9 a.m.; UC Santa Barbara (27-6) vs. Connecticut (27-4), 30 minutes after first game.

* Championship: Monday, 4 p.m.

MIDEAST

* Semifinals, Sunday at Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk, Va.: Duke (29-3) vs. Louisiana Tech (29-2), 9 a.m.; Boston College (27-6) vs. Minnesota (23-8), 30 minutes after first game.

* Championship: Tuesday, 4 p.m.

MIDWEST

* Semifinals, Sunday at Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Okla.: Stanford (26-6) vs. Vanderbilt (26-7), 4 p.m.; Tennessee (28-3) vs. Baylor (26-8), 30 minutes after first game.

* Championship: Tuesday, 6 p.m.

WEST

* Semifinals: Saturday at Bank of America Arena, Seattle: Texas (30-4) vs. Louisiana State (25-7), 6 p.m.; Georgia (24-9) vs. Purdue (29-3), 30 minutes after first game.

* Championship: Monday, 6 p.m.