Over the years the NCAA championship basketball tournament, also known as March Madness, has become a yearly highlight for sports fans who love the excitement of witnessing upsets, watching their favorite college teams, and filling out brackets. The best teams in the league compete against each other to be named the best. This season the teams that made it to the “Final Four” are the University of Connecticut (UConn), Michigan State, Villanova, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The athletes that play for the top college basketball teams are often seen in the media, and are recognizable to the average sports fan. Assistant Professor of Sports Science Bob Malekoff believes that these student-athletes are being treated increasingly more like celebrities in the athletic world.

“It is another barrier keeping (these athletes) from realizing why they are in college,” Malekoff said. “Because of the microscope they are under, it is increasingly hard to have a normal college experience.”

The celebrity status that these student-athletes receive could contribute to their low graduation rates.

“I think (the celebrity status) is poisonous to athlete’s success; it can blind them from their goals to graduate college,” freshman football player Jordan Dutton said.

For instance, at UConn the graduation rate of men’s basketball players is 33%, which is roughly 30% lower than that of the average student body and 63% lower than that of the women’s basketball team, according to the Institution for Diversity and Ethics in Sports and uconn.edu.

Typically, as the NCAA tournament progresses, teams that remain have lower graduation rates. In the “Sweet 16,” three teams, Arizona, Missouri and UConn had graduation rates lower than 40%.

“I think there is nothing wrong with competition as long as it lines up with the expectations of the college,” Malekoff said.

Some analysts believe that colleges are being used as a “minor league” for the NBA. Players are continuously getting into colleges, and then dropping out for early entry into the NBA draft.

Until 2006, high-school athletes could enter the NBA following graduation. However, a ruling was made stating that any person participating in the NBA draft had to be either at least 19 years of age or have completed one or more years of higher education.

NBA’s ruling has gotten more athletes to college, but according to nba.com, in 2008, 22 student-athletes dropped out of college to enter the NBA draft. The question may be asked as to whether these students are using higher education for basketball practice before they can play in the NBA.

“(These athletes) might be killing time, but I wouldn’t say ‘killing time’ because you have to keep your grades up to play that sport, so they are at least getting one good year of schooling, if not more,” sophomore football player Ryan Hammond said.

The graduation rate of NCAA players in men’s basketball is 69 percent, which is up from 2007 when it was 61 percent, and 10 percent higher than it was in 2005, according to ncaa.org.

“I think dropout rates are pretty average,” Hammond said. “I am surprised that athletes’ dropout rates are higher than the average student population, for me, practice and working out with friends helps me to want to go to class.”

Malekoff believes that many high school athletes going to Division I schools have the mentality that they are going for football or basketball and the education is an additional prospect, which may lead to the easy detachment from college.

When asked if he would leave college for the pros, freshman basketball player Will Cloyd was quick to respond.

“If I were good enough (to go pro), I would do it in a heartbeat,” Cloyd said.