Hoops & Academics Honored by CSTV

NORMAN, Okla. -- CSTV.com columnist Jessica Garrison delved into the recent WBCA Top 25 Academic Team rankings and came out praising the academic suppport system at the University of Oklahoma.

Below is an excerpt from her column and a link to the complete version...

At Oklahoma, No. 19 on the academic honor roll with a 3.315 team GPA, "a group of girls are always in place to whom academic achievement is of utmost importance," head coach Sherri Coale said. On her team, "there's as much competition in terms of academic performance as there is on the court."

Of course, the Sooners also benefit from their athletic-academic facilities. Oklahoma boasts the state-of-the art Prentice Gautt Academic Center, according to the school "some 30,000 square feet are dedicated to the academic pursuits of Sooner student-athletes." The center must be working on some level - OU graduates more of its student athletes than any other school in the Big 12.

"That's where we are a leg above lots of other places: the people that we have at the academic center," Coale said. "You can go and be instructed at any time by a professor. There is a genuine interest in putting [the players] in situations where they want to succeed, take some sort of ownership in their educational process."

If an academic facility that only a big-budget school can provide helps the Sooners so much, why aren't more of the nation's big schools, the elite programs, besting the schools working on a comparative shoestring?

Continued on CSTV.com...

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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