Update, 6:24 p.m.

The GW men’s basketball program failed to meet NCAA benchmarks for eligibility and retention and had one scholarship withheld as a penalty, according to yesterday’s NCAA Academic Progress Rate report.

The penalty was applied to this past season, according to Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz. A University news release said the team’s low score was “due largely to attrition,” referring to the number of players who have left the men’s basketball team. In the four years included in the APR, seven scholarship members left the program.

“We’re fine academically,” Kvancz said. “We have a problem with retention.”

The APR is intended to assess a team’s academic performance in “near real-time” by awarding a point for each student-athlete that remains academically eligible and another point for each that stays enrolled in the school, according to the NCAA Web site. It is evaluated on a per-semester basis and based on the four most recently completed academic years (2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008).

Teams receive scores up to 1000, with 925 being the minimum to guarantee avoiding sanctions. GW’s men’s basketball team was one of 43 in the country to score less than 925, receiving a score of 917. The team’s score ranked in the 20th-30th percentile of men’s basketball teams nationwide.

Kvancz said he decided to withhold one scholarship from the program last year because his “best guess was that we were gonna be close” to the 925 mark and that because of that decision, the penalty won’t be assessed for the 2009-2010 season.

Since the spring of 2004, 11 scholarship players have left the men’s team. In a 2008 article regarding the departures of former Colonials Cheyenne Moore and Miles Beatty, Director of Sports Information Brad Bower said the number of players leaving the team in recent years was not uncommon compared to other schools. Bower declined to comment Thursday evening.

Chandra Bierwirth, assistant director of athletics for compliance, declined to comment on this story. Senior Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services Robert Chernak and representatives of the NCAA could not be reached for comment.

Four GW squads received honors last month for earning APR scores in the top 10 percent of their respective sports.