Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ? Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson admitted that recruiting Dillard High star Jimmy Tobias was a gamble.

Tobias worked hard his senior year to get his grade-point average and SAT score high enough to meet the NCAA minimum requirements and qualify for a scholarship.

“Jimmy’s an at-risk student,” Sampson said. “He’s one of those kids who might not go to college without athletics. I think he now understands the importance of keeping his grades up.”

How Tobias performs in the classroom has taken on added significance because of new academic rules that go into effect Aug. 1 and others expected to be approved by the NCAA this fall.

Tobias is part of the first class that will have to meet tougher standards to remain in school. Then there are the proposed penalties that Sampson and Oklahoma could face if Tobias or enough of his teammates drop out or fail to graduate.

Right now there are no penalties for low graduation rates, which is a good thing for Sampson, because Oklahoma’s men’s basketball team had a zero percent graduation rate in the latest NCAA report.

Starting Aug. 1, the NCAA now will put more of an emphasis on the grade-point average, and the 820 SAT minimum has been abandoned. It is now possible for a potential student athlete to score a 400, the lowest possible score, and still be eligible, as long as he or she has a GPA of 3.55 or higher.

Sampson, who is president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said this was a welcome change coaches have sought for years.

“We knew test scores weren’t the best measure for academic success,” Sampson said.

At the same time the NCAA eased the initial eligibility, it voted also to increase the number of classes students must take and pass each year. Athletes must have completed 40 percent of their required work toward a degree after their second year, 60 percent progress after three years and 80 percent progress after four years.

This is an increase from the current 25-50-75. Athletes will also have to pass at least six hours each semester and 24 hours each year to be eligible.

The NCAA already has developed criteria for an Annual Academic and Retention Rate that will track every Division I athlete. The AARR will be used to grade schools, teams and coaches on how many athletes they keep in school and how many of those eventually graduate.

The more severe penalties, which could include banishment from postseason play and revoking scholarships, would be based on the historical rates. Warnings about that could also begin in 2004-05, with the first substantial punishments coming in the 2007-08 school year.