When the NCAA enacted its academic reform plan more than three years ago, the idea was that the sanctioning body for collegiate sports was finally getting serious about holding schools accountable for the progress of its student-athletes.

East Carolina University has found out just how serious. The ECU men's basketball program will lose one scholarship for the 2008-09 season and will have to cut its weekly practice time from 20 hours to 18 because it failed to meet the NCAA's standard for academic progress.

The NCAA will release the academic progress rates for all Division I schools and teams this afternoon, but ECU chose to announce its 2006-07 results in various sports late Monday afternoon, noting that 18 of its 19 programs were not subject to penalties.

The ECU men's basketball program reported an academic progress rate (APR) of 861, an improvement of 12 points over the previous year but still well below the 900 threshold required to avoid historical penalties for chronic underachievers. Last year, ECU received a warning after the basketball team posted an 849 APR. A third straight APR below 900 could result in restrictions on postseason play.

The football team reported a 922 APR and also must develop an academic improvement plan, though it will not be penalized.

The APR was developed to better measure in "real time" how athletes and teams are doing in the classroom, based on eligibility, retention and graduation rather than just on six-year graduation rates. This is the fourth year of APR data.

East Carolina said it has developed a required academic improvement plan for men's basketball and that the two lost hours of practice time would be replaced by additional tutoring and study halls. In the prepared statement, ECU noted that significant progress has already been made since head coach Bill Herrion was fired following the 2004-05 season. In his place, Ricky Stokes lasted two years, posting a 14-44 record but improving the team's academic performance, before ECU bought out his contract.

The cumulative grade-point average for men's basketball has risen from 2.13 in the fall of 2004 to 2.78 last fall, according to the university statement, and every recruit since Herrion left has been eligible each semester or transferred in good academic standing. The team also used charter planes to travel on the day of Conference USA games and missed only two full days of classes.

"Recruiting is going well, and I believe we are turning the corner to be competitive in C-USA," ECU athletic director Terry Holland said Monday night in an e-mail response to The N&O. "However, we still find we are not able to control the transfer rate as it is becoming a huge problem throughout the NCAA, particularly when a coaching change occurs. I honestly believe that ANY transfers who leave in good academic standing should not count in the APR, but I don't get to make the rules."

Stokes brought in almost an entirely new team after his first season.