Duke led nine ACC schools that rank above the national average in the NCAA’s latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) report, which the NCAA released on Thursday.

The GSR measures the graduation rates of athletes over a six-year period, and includes athletes who transfer into an institution. The metric doesn’t include athletes who leave an institution in good academic standing.

The most recent GSR data reflects freshmen who entered college between 2002 and 2005. At Duke, 98 percent of freshmen athletes who entered school between 2002 and 2005 graduated within six years, according to the GSR.

That figure led the ACC. Boston College (97 percent), Wake Forest (95), Miami (93), North Carolina (88), Virginia Tech (88), Virginia (87), Clemson (84), Maryland (83), Florida State (78), N.C. State (77) and Georgia Tech (76) followed. The national average for the GSR is 80 percent.

Sixteen Duke teams achieved a 100 percent GSR, including men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.

At UNC, the men’s basketball team achieved a 91 percent GSR, including 100 percent for the freshmen class that entered during the 2005-06 academic year. N.C. State, which also received a 100 percent GSR in men’s basketball for the freshmen class that entered in ’05-06, has a four-year men’s basketball GSR of 73 percent.

UNC’s men’s basketball GSR of 91 percent is 17 points above the national average. UNC’s football GSR of 75 percent is five points above the national average in that sport. Overall, 11 UNC teams have a four-year GSR average of 100 percent.

“I am very pleased we had such a high number of our teams that performed above the national average, including the football and men’s basketball teams,” UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “Our university is committed to supporting these students so that they have the best opportunities to achieve both academically and athletically at the highest level.”

“We know we can accomplish both of these goals successfully at Carolina.”

N.C. State, meanwhile, had four teams achieve a four-year average of 100 percent in the GSR. In football, Duke ranked third in the ACC with a GSR of 92 percent. UNC’s football GSR of 75 percent ranked tied for fifth, and N.C. State’s football GSR of 62 percent ranked 10th in the conference.

Carter: 919-829-8944