The not so shocking grad rate stats

WaPo published an article about the disparate graduation rates between the men's and women's teams in this year's NCAA tournament. The women have a 89 percent graduation rate; the men are at 67 percent. Also the disparity in grad rates, on the women's side, between white and African American players is much smaller. On the women's side: 8 percent. On the men's side: 28 percent.
These disparities are not new. But the numbers on the men's side are improving. There is hope that the NCAA will further raise its standards for the academic performance. Last year the organization decided to ban from the tournament teams with a graduation rate of less then 50 percent.
But Dr. Richard Lapchick of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (he's the one the collects all this data and issues "report cards" on the status of intercollegiate and professional sports, and sports media) says the NCAA could probably easily raise the standard to 55 or 60 percent.