The athletic programs at Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Duquesne and Robert Morris have made satisfactory academic progress the past three years and will not face sanctions from the NCAA this year.

The NCAA released its latest Academic Progress Report yesterday, a process that began three years ago to establish minimum academic standards for member schools. Those that fail to meet the standards face disciplinary action, including the loss of scholarships.

The system tracks eligibility and retention of student-athletes who receive athletic scholarships. Each player can earn up to four points (two per semester) for being academically eligible and remaining enrolled in the institution while he or she has athletic eligibility remaining.

The APR number is derived by dividing the total team points earned by the total points possible and multiplying by 1,000. There is an annual number as well as a three-year number -- the numbers released yesterday -- calculated for each team, and there are two categories of penalties: contemporaneous (immediate) and historical.

This is the first year the NCAA is handing out historical penalties -- for the three-year sample -- and the second for immediate penalties.

A perfect score is 1,000, and the minimum acceptable score is 925. Because the system is only 3 years old, the NCAA allowed a "squad-size" adjustment based on available scholarships.

That's why teams with an APR number lower than 925 -- such as the Pitt men's basketball team, which scored 907 and ranked 13th out of 16 Big East teams -- are not subject to sanctions. Pitt's APR fell within the acceptable confidence boundary after the squad-size adjustment was made.

This is the last year the adjustment will be made, though. So if the basketball team does not improve its number to 925 or better next year, it could face sanctions.

Other programs that could face possible sanctions next year without improvement are Pitt baseball (923); West Virginia football (924), baseball (919), men's (915) and women's (910) basketball and wrestling (891); Penn State fencing (915); Duquesne men's basketball (909); and Robert Morris men's basketball (903), lacrosse (908) and women's golf (900).

While pleased with the school's academic performance, Pitt athletic director Jeff Long acknowledged that there was still some work to be done, particularly with the men's basketball program. One thing that hurt the basketball program's score was that former player Julius Page did not graduate in the allotted six years -- he did graduate last summer -- and he was enrolled in school for two semesters but was not academically eligible because he was trying to make it into the NBA. That cost the team three points for the period (academic years 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06).

"You obviously want every score to be 1,000 and that's what we're aiming for," Long said. "But our numbers are very good, especially when you consider where we were three years ago. We've improved every year and we'll continue to improve because we've made this a priority as have all of our coaches."

There were 112 teams nationally that received sanctions, which is a relatively low number considering more than 6,000 teams compete in Division I.

Some of the teams hit the hardest were Florida International football (a loss of nine scholarships), Murray State football (5.56), San Jose State football (7) and Tennessee Chattanooga football (6.3).

Clarion's wrestling team, which competes in Division I, had an APR score of 871 and lost one scholarship.

Almost all the sanctioned programs were from small schools -- the historically black colleges were hit particularly hard -- but NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon said he expects that to change next year because the squad-size adjustment will be eliminated.

"We understand that a lot of [BCS teams] benefited from the small-squad adjustment," he told The Associated Press. "Next year, when we don't have that, I don't think you'll see that disparity."

Only three Big East teams -- Cincinnati men's basketball (APR 838, a loss of one scholarship) and Rutgers wrestling (883, 0.46) and women's fencing (808, 0.50) -- were hit with penalties.

Arizona (APR 883, a loss of four scholarships) was the only major conference football team to be hit with sanctions.

Robert Morris men's tennis and women's crew, WVU rifle and women's cross country, Duquesne women's cross country and men's swimming, and Penn State women's golf, women's tennis and women's lacrosse all scored 1,000.

Those teams, along with Penn State wrestling, baseball and women's volleyball, and Duquesne men's soccer, track and wrestling, received NCAA Public Recognition Awards for quality academic performance.