Elon makes Elite Eight in Inside Higher Ed's All-Academic Bracket

The Phoenix women are rated among the top academic teams competing in this year's NCAA Division I basketball tournament.

Inside Higher Ed's Elite Eight tournament teams.

Elon’s women’s basketball team is making its second appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament and is already being named an Elite Eight team in the bracket for its academic prowess by Inside Higher Ed. The publication’s annual All-Academic Tournament Bracket puts Elon, Stanford, Creighton, Michigan, Villanova, Minnesota, Virginia and Belmont in the Elite Eight of this year’s tournament, based on the NCAA’s metrics for judging academic success. Elon topped Princeton and Mississippi State in its regional bracket pairing to advance to the top eight teams. It was topped by Creighton using the Federal Graduation Rate tie-breaker.

Inside Higher Ed's All-Academic Tournament Bracket.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the bracket demonstrates a tournament “where the outcome of each game is determined not by athletic prowess but by academic skill.” The publication’s measures rely on the NCAA Academic Progress Rate. In the event of a tie, it looks at graduation success rates, also determined by the NCAA, which gauge the portion of athletes who graduate within six years. Elon posted perfect 1,000 scores the past three years for women’s basketball in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate.

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