No offense to athletes in other sports, but the real revenue generators in athletics departments across the nation come in the form of big time Men's Basketball and Football. And by big time, I mean those schools that compete at the Division I level in basketball and the Division I-A level in football.

Take a guess at how many of the programs that we have come to expect to dominate the headlines were among the first offenders of the APR system.

The answer: None

No school that will be competing for the BCS crown, no school that has a shot at the Final Four in the next few years.

Zero.

Instead, the APR is going to be penalizing teams like Temple football, as if they weren't already hurting enough. Kicked out of the Big East conference and now a provisional MAC team after playing last year as an independent, winning a grand total of zero games, you wouldn't expect things could get worse. They finished next to last in the MRI, just being beaten for the worst spot by winless New Mexico State, who managed to squeeze in that twelfth loss to Temple's eleven. Yes, those same Temple Owls are going to be without 9 football scholarships next season. This won't help them be competitive in their new league.

Or will it? Among the football teams affected by the release are four other MAC teams, including conference leaders Toledo (6 scholarships) and Northern Illinois (2 scholarships). Without Bruce Gradkowski, the Rockets are probably not going to be the same team, but without the means to add players to its roster, they definitely won't be. Though, if you think that the positions that are going to be hurting will be the skill ones, you are probably mistaken. Most likely, there will be less 3rd string kickers available on the sidelines, you know, just in case.

In basketball, the trend is the same, though the penalties are a little more harsh - with a maximum of 13 scholarships, teams could be losing as many as two. Dave Leitao left behind the DePaul basketball team for Virginia. He also left them as they transfer into one of the toughest leagues in America, the Big East, with a huge deficit. The Blue Demons will be without one scholarship next year, the only school from the six so-called Power Conferences to be affected.

Of the other names on the list, only three even have a likely shot to win their conference tournament this year and make the NCAA field of 65 - Kent State of the MAC (2 scholarships), Hampton of the MEAC (2 scholarships), and Louisiana Tech of the WAC (1 scholarship). All of the others will be tuning into Selection Sunday merely to fill out their brackets correctly - not that there is any gambling in college athletics...

According to the AP article, there were 350 teams in danger of sanctions last season while only 99 made the final cut. What happened to the others? Is this a case of Jim Harrick-like classes (interestingly, Harrick's profile is still available on the Georgia athletics site) where students are pressured with difficult questions like "How many points is a three point basket worth?"

Most likely, no. But anyone who tells you that there is no pressure on teachers at major universities to pass athletes in danger of losing eligibility is not paying attention. While there have been a few high profile athletes forced to sit out part of this season at schools in the major conferences (See James Mays at Clemson), I have to believe there was some pressure to avoid any school with a major profile from being named in this first release.

As a side note, several schools have yet to present their data to the NCAA (Exactly how long does this process take? There are only two questions and they have yes or no answers): Arizona State University; Northern Arizona University; San Diego State University; San Jose State University; Texas A&M University, College Station; University of Arizona; University of Kansas; and Tulane University

Do I expect any of the school on that list to come up short? Ask me a few years ago and I might have said the two Arizona schools would be in trouble, but not today. Instead, the two schools that are most likely to be hurt are San Diego State and Tulane. Tulane, suffering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, may now be subject to the loss of scholarships purely because so many of their student athletes transferred. San Diego State falls in that category of good, but not good enough to provide extra help like some other schools.

Will the APR solve the academic problems among student athletes? Probably not. First, the formula is overly simple and there are ways to control at least half of the equation, the academic eligibility. Second, instead of solving problems, it will make some schools better at hiding them and others will just have to come up with money in some way to afford extra tutoring or forever live on the edge. And where does that money come from? Perhaps the cutting of other athletic programs, or the loss of some non-athletics related activities. The bigger problem for those schools named may be that consistent appearances on the list by a team could lead to the loss of NCAA recognition, something none of the schools can afford if they expect to keep their athletic programs in place (although Temple might want to think twice if their football program is really worth it).

Pat Forde has what may be the simplest solution to the whole mess: make administrators wake up about where their schools truly fit in the athletic world.

It should be said that this issue cuts both ways. If some of the lesser schools were more realistic about their place in college athletics, they wouldn't be in this predicament.

I'd love to have someone show me the payoff for moving up to Division I-A football at Louisiana-Lafayette ($3.1 million in the red in 2003-04) and Louisiana-Monroe ($2 million in the red). They haven't even made it to the Sun Belt's sole postseason tie-in, the New Orleans Bowl.

If more of these schools knew their true place in the college sports hierarchy, the budget problem might not be so pronounced. And there might be more in the coffers to pay for academic support.

Does moving up to Division I really make that big of a difference for your school if you are consistently at the bottom of the league? Ask Savannah State's head basketball coach if his team loves losing almost every game by double digit points. Ask Idaho how well they have done in football since moving to Division I-A (even if I think that Dennis Erickson might be reason for optimism). The list of schools who have found success after the jump is very short - Boise State and South Florida in football and if hard pressed, I still couldn't tell you a single program in basketball that has seen major success. If schools would evaluate the move with their head instead of with the dollar signs in their eyes (which may not materialize), we may not see them having to compete with the Tennessees of the world, who have boosters that build academic centers specifically for athletes. Instead, these schools should be facing competition with the same resources they have, and providing a more level playing field overall.

Its probably no coincidence that over the weekend, a newspaper feature was released speaking to the ills of high school athletes who get special treatment academically in order to get them into colleges. The same is most likely happening across the nation now, just with less scrutiny at the college level. What is the solution that is being discussed? How about a return to the days when freshman weren't allowed to play. That would make sure that those reaching the college level were serious about doing college level work and weren't just there because someone in high school did them a favor. Sure, the college favors will still be there, but the college favors are a lot harder to come by when you aren't between the lines once or twice a week for 4 months at a time.

This is only the first release of the report and future releases should be telling. I know one thing. Just like steroids in baseball, no major school in either basketball or football wants to be the first team to appear on the list (Sorry, DePaul, you haven't been major for a long time) and have what happened to Rafael Palmeiro happen to them.