By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

As much as Michael Kuebler meant to the University of Hawai'i in an All-Western Athletic Conference season, he could continue to help the basketball team well after the memory of his last 3-pointer fades.

With yesterday's announcement that the NCAA Division I Management Council has voted unanimously to repeal the existing rule on basketball scholarship limitations and replace it with one designed to reward schools with timely graduation records, players like Kuebler could be worth more than just their scoring average come the fall, if the measure gains final approval.

Kuebler, the school's first men's basketball academic All-American, is expected to graduate in the fall with a degree in business. If enough players pick up diplomas — and the NCAA is still working on what the standard will be — schools will be allowed to offer the maximum 13 scholarships.

On the flip side, schools that don't measure up academically will pay for it with fewer scholarships, a distinct competitive disadvantage.

From where UH and a lot of schools sit today, that's a powerful incentive. UH, because of the so-called 5/8 rule now being applied, would otherwise only have 10 players on scholarship in the fall.

The current rule, which is not tied to academic performance, forbids schools from awarding more than five scholarships in any one year and a maximum of eight over two years. UH, because it loses five seniors from its 2003-04 team, only has three scholarships to replace them with.

But with all five players having either already graduated or on schedule to earn diplomas within the NCAA's six-year timetable, according to coaches, the Rainbows would be allowed to offer the full 13.

The difference between 10 and 13, said UH assistant Jackson Wheeler, "is huge for us."

The concept of rewarding academics is both refreshing and long overdue. What a notion, basketball players who actually go to college intent on studying something more than Jumpshot 101 and schools held to standards.

For too long men's basketball has been the saddest example of the student-athlete equation. In this year's 65-team NCAA Tournament field, for example, 16 schools had graduation rates of 25 percent or less. Only four teams in the Sweet 16 — Duke, Kansas, Vanderbilt and Xavier — had graduation rates of 50 percent or better, according to a study.

UH's own record in this regard hasn't always been stellar. But there has been a marked improvement in recent years.

It is sad that schools should have to be rewarded for achieving their mission of educating students. But if that is what it takes, then it is a welcome if overdue step.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.