See how UK athletes did in the classroom this semester
While the University of the Kentucky volleyball team was embarking on a historic season with an SEC title and its deepest NCAA Tournament run in decades, it was also getting work done in the classroom, achieving a 3.654 grade-point average, the highest among UK’s team sports.
“Championship teams differentiate themselves by the way they pursue excellence in everything they do,” UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said in a news release. “Our volleyball team is proof of that. Their commitment in competition and in the classroom is a reflection of what it will take for us to reach our goals of becoming one of the nation’s elite athletics departments in all facets.”
UK released all team GPAs for the fall semester Thursday. The overall GPA for all scholarship athletes was a 3.118, marking the 11th straight semester the cumulative GPA for all sports teams was above a 3.0.
Football and men’s basketball were the only two out of the 20 UK sports teams to fall below a 3.0 GPA.
The football team ranked last with a 2.493 GPA. Removing the non-scholarship players from the mix, the football team had a 2.25 GPA. Both numbers are down from a year ago when Coach Mark Stoops’ team turned in 2.655 overall GPA and 2.531 GPA for scholarship players.
The men’s basketball team improved on its numbers from 2016. Coach John Calipari’s squad had a 2.689 overall GPA and a 2.594 scholarship player GPA in 2017 compared to a 2.547 and 2.418, respectively, in the fall of 2016.
Last week, UK announced the December graduations of 38 current and former athletes, including basketball players, Erik Daniels, Gerald Fitch and Makayla Epps, as well as softball’s Meagan Prince and baseball’s Max Kuhn.
Jared Peck: 859-231-1333, @JPSaysHere
UK grade-point averages for fall 2017 semester
Sport | Competing Scholarship | Competing Scholarship and Non-Scholarship |
Baseball | 3.152 | 3.225 |
Men’s Basketball | 2.594 | 2.689 |
Women’s Basketball | 3.306 | 3.255 |
Football | 2.250 | 2.493 |
Men’s Golf | 3.577 | 3.577 |
Women’s Golf | 3.142 | 3.142 |
Gymnastics | 3.503 | 3.478 |
Rifle | 3.308 | 3.347 |
Men’s Soccer | 3.266 | 3.081 |
Women’s Soccer | 3.303 | 3.321 |
Softball | 3.396 | 3.416 |
Men’s Swimming and Diving | 3.510 | 3.407 |
Women’s Swimming and Diving | 3.586 | 3.496 |
Men’s Tennis | 3.356 | 3.356 |
Women’s Tennis | 3.346 | 3.346 |
Men’s Track | 3.193 | 3.232 |
Women’s Track | 3.179 | 3.232 |
Men’s Cross Country | 3.535 | 3.525 |
Women’s Cross Country | 3.591 | 3.661 |
Volleyball | 3.620 | 3.654 |
Men’s Sports | 2.926 | 2.983 |
Women’s Sports | 3.387 | 3.395 |
Overall | 3.118 | 3.148 |
This story was originally published December 21, 2017 at 1:21 PM with the headline "See how UK athletes did in the classroom this semester."