Annoyed NCAA President Myles Brand yesterday unveiled the latest graduation rates for the top two tiers of college athletics, saying that those who "peddle the myth" about athletics failing academically have some learning to do.

"Student-athletes are good students," Brand said. "Indeed, they are doing better than the average American college student." He called such achievement in Divisions I and II "one of our greatest success stories."

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The most recent survey, of student-athletes enrolling in 1999-2000 and given the standard six years to graduate, says: Major-college football overall is graduating players at a rate of 66 percent and African-American players at a rate of 56 percent. The NCAA figures adjust for players transferring into and out of a program and those who enter mid-year (often termed "grayshirts"), something federal-education standards refuse to quantify, thus often indicating lower graduation rates.

Division I men's basketball likewise witnessed a slight increase to 46 percent overall and 42 percent among African-Americans, a four-point hike that Brand called "a very serious move upward."

Altogether, using the adjusted calculation that the NCAA labels the Graduation Success Rate, Division I is graduating 77 percent of its athletes, though Brand aims for 80 percent.

"We are indeed making progress," Brand said. "There is room for improvement, nonetheless."

Locally, many Division I programs, whose overall GSRs were announced six weeks ago, saw a rise in their individual sports' academic successes.

Pitt football climbed to a 54-percent rate from 48 in figures released last year, boosted by a 67-percent graduation rate for the 1999-2000 freshman class. Men's basketball also rose, to 57 from 29, with a four-class average -- without transfers and grayshirts -- at 38 but also with a perfect 100 from the 1999-2000 freshmen.

Penn State, long among the NCAA leaders in this category, showed a slight drop in its major men's and women's sports: football slipped a mite from 84 to 80, and women's basketball from 85 to 80.

West Virginia football remained flat mostly, at 63 percent a year after being 64. Men's basketball, amid a coaching change early in the survey, fell to 43 percent from 67 percent.

Duquesne football and Robert Morris men's basketball also stayed roughly the same, though the latter appeared buoyed by the transfer-adjusted rates while its four-class average came in at 33 percent. Duquesne men's basketball, at a time of a coaching change, fell to 63 from 83.

"It's something we want to take a look at because it is a concern, and we want to improve it," said Duquesne's Phil Racicot, associate athletic director for administration.

"Overall, we're comfortable where we are. Nationally, we're ahead of the curve. Ideally, you want all the numbers to be 100 percent. We're not saying [men's basketball] is a problem, but we want to know why the number is what it is and how we can make it better."

Duquesne had five men's basketball players transfer when Danny Nee was fired and Ron Everhart hired as coach last spring.

The numbers released yesterday aren't to be confused with the Academic Progress Rate, a different scoring system -- released for the first time in February -- that the NCAA uses to scrutinize athletes' academic eligibility, performance and track toward graduation. If programs fail to meet specific APR standards, they can be penalized scholarship money. Clarion wrestling, for example, was forced to withhold roughly three-quarters of a scholarship.

Yesterday also was the first time Division II rates were revealed, and, like Brand, Pfeiffer University President and Division II Presidents Council chair Charles Ambrose was pleased because they illustrated a 9-percent increase over the general D-II student graduation numbers.

Locally, a handful of schools, many from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, reported graduation rates in basketball that were barely half that of their general-population figures.

IUP had a zero graduation rate for a four-class average (from a sampling of five or fewer players) and California University of Pennsylvania a 20 percent graduation rate (from a sampling between six to 10 players), apparently suffering many of the problems in attrition, transfers and the like that befall such relatively strong, Division II basketball programs.

Clarion, Mercyhurst, Lock Haven and Slippery Rock similarly had 30- to 33-percent rates for a four-class average.

"We'll look at it and run it by the schools individually and figure out what it all means," PSAC commissioner Steve Murray said. "This is a new measurement for us so we want to know how big the numbers they're using are. We'll look at this sport to make sure they get their numbers up. Yes, it's disconcerting, and we're going to do what it takes to improve."

Coincidentally, also yesterday, one Pitt player and three West Virginia players were named to the All-District 2 academic football team, as selected by a membership vote of the College Sports Information Directors of America. Pitt sophomore kicker Connor Lee of Upper St. Clair, with a 3.68 grade-point average as a business major, and the three Mountaineers were placed on a national ballot for Academic All-America consideration. The three Mountaineers are senior linebacker Jay Henry, with a 4.0 GPA in finance and accounting; senior center Dan Mozes of Washington High School, with a 3.58 in communications, and sophomore tackle Ryan Stanchek, with a 3.52 in athletic coaching education.