HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Connecticut has proposed reducing the number of games it will play next season if the NCAA grants a waiver to allow the Huskies to play in the 2013 men’s basketball tournament.

The school currently would be barred from the NCAA tournament, a penalty for years of below-standard academic results, but it requested a waiver last month.

That document, obtained this week by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information request, outlines proposed self-imposed penalties to be instituted if the request is granted.

Those include forfeiting the revenue awarded to the Big East for participating in the 2013 tournament, reducing the number of regular-season games played in the 2012-13 season from 27 to 23 and barring Coach Jim Calhoun from meeting off-campus with prospective recruits during the fall 2012 contact period.

“Collectively, the university’s proposal will clearly send the message that the institution fully accepts the responsibility for past failings,” the school writes in its waiver request. “It will result in the economic equivalent of a postseason ban without harming the very students the NCAA is trying to protect.”

The Big East conference, which would lose revenue under the proposal, declined to comment on whether it supports the proposal.

The schedule changes also would include eliminating exhibition games next season, but would not impact the team’s play at the in-season Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands. So the actual number of games played would be 26 rather than 30. The school said all hours that would have been spent in competition will instead transfer to study hall, tutor sessions or meetings with advisers.

The school said Calhoun will bring a current or former NBA player to inner-city schools for at least five educational sessions on the importance of academic achievement.

“We believe that we have made a very compelling case to the NCAA and will be deeply disappointed if our request for a waiver from the 2013 men’s basketball postseason ban is denied,” UConn President Susan Herbst said in a statement. “Our team’s academic performance improved tremendously in 2010-11, and in the fall 2011 semester. We developed a new long-term academic plan for our team, and it has already shown positive results.”

The waiver request outlines the school’s Academic Improvement Plan — new programs and penalties the school has in place to improve the team’s academic standing.

That includes mandated sanctions for any player who misses three or more classes during the academic year and daily checks of course work for student-athletes who have a grade-point average of 2.3 or lower.

One player, whose name is redacted in the copy of the document released to the AP, was already benched by Calhoun this season after missing two classes.

In addition, Herbst is now receiving a weekly academic progress report for all team members.

Under rules approved in October, a school must have a two-year average score of 930 or a four-year average of 900 on the NCAA’s annual Academic Progress Rate, which measures the academic performance of student-athletes.

The defending national champions would be academically ineligible in 2013, because the NCAA plans to use data from the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.

Walter Harrison, the chairman of the NCAA’s Committee on Academic Performance, said that the body will be meeting on Feb. 20 to discuss whether to adjust reporting dates to allow schools to use their most recent data in qualifying for tournaments. For the 2013 men’s basketball tournament, that would mean scores from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic year.

UConn would qualify for the tournament under that scenario.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Harrison said. “We could just decide to keep the current policy in place. Secondly, we could decide that we want to make a change, and that may require board approval, which would mean it wouldn’t happen until April. The third possibility is we might not make any decision, and talk about it again in April.”

In the meantime, the waiver request will be reviewed by NCAA staff, and can be appealed.

 

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