Indianapolis ? No school could match the postseason success of Florida, George Mason, LSU or UCLA on the basketball court. The classroom marks of those teams weren’t as tough to beat.

The four teams playing at this weekend’s Final Four all fell short of the NCAA’s recently imposed cutline on academic progress rates, but none were sanctioned since three received squad-size adjustment waivers, and the fourth, LSU, kept all of its players eligible.

NCAA president Myles Brand calls that progress.

“LSU was in that category below the squad-size adjustment, but they did not have any student-athlete that flunked out,” Brand said Thursday. “What does that tell you? They weren’t doing well in the past and they’re doing better now. … That’s exactly what we want.”

Brand spent his 45-minute news conference discussing a wide range of topics including diploma-mill prep schools, fiscal responsibility and American Indian mascots.

Much of the focus, however, was on Brand’s favorite topic – academic reform.

The former president of Indiana University has championed the reform movement throughout his four-year tenure by urging university presidents to implement tougher standards and harsher penalties.

Statistics show some changes are working, but the four teams playing in the NCAA’s highest-profile event were all below the cutline of 925.

“They (LSU) are working on their program academically to do better, and it showed,” he said. “There weren’t very many schools that were able to do that. LSU is one of them.”

The new calculation for academic progress generates a score between 0 and 1,000; penalties are assessed beginning with teams that drop below 925. The score is determined by a points formula that rewards long-term eligibility and retention of student-athletes. Programs lose points when athletes transfer, drop out, leave for the pros or become academically ineligible while still at the school.

George Mason scored a 918, the highest among the Final Four schools. LSU had the worst score, 860. Florida was at 903 and UCLA at 915.

Kansas University, which lost in the first round to Bradley, had a two-year APR of 953, well above the cutline.