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Study: University of Arizona is graduating 60% of male basketball players

The University of Arizona tips off Thursday in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.

Data from a new study shows the Wildcats have the second-worst graduation percentage for male basketball players among the schools still playing in March Madness. 

The NCAA measures a Division I university’s graduation success rate by how many of its athletes earn a diploma within six years. Players who transfer schools, or turn professional, only count against the rate if they were academically ineligible when they left.

The data is one type analyzed by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

The yearly study says 60% of male UA basketball players are graduating.

The figure is 5 percentage points higher than Pac-12 rival UCLA, which had the worst graduation percentage among all teams that made the men’s NCAA tournament.

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.