For college presidents and administrators, the NCAA’s annual APR (Academic Progress Rate) should be a useful tool.

For the average college sports fan, it’s more of a confusing melange of numbers that boils down to a few simple questions. How well is my team doing, especially compared to other teams? Is there any risk of lost practices, or postseason play or scholarships? In other words, is my ox about to be gored by the NCAA?

Here is the simple answer. If you have a big ox, you’re probably in good shape.

The NCAA imposed a few sanctions and sent out some ominous warning letters on Wednesday, when the annual APR rates for all Division I schools were released to the public. But consider this: There were 112 of the “scarlet letters" and less than 10 percent (11) went to BCS conference schools. (The most prominent example was probably Arizona’s football program, which stands to lose four scholarships.)

The University of Alabama was well within the safe boundaries in nearly all sports. (The critical score -- and don’t ask how it is calculated -- is a 925.) Alabama recorded a 942 in football, the sixth-best score in the SEC, and a 932 in basketball, the league’s fourth-best score. The only program that needs some immediate academic attention, it seems, is men’s track, where both the indoor and outdoor teams (largely consisting of the same athletes) hovered just below the 925 mark. On the other hand, women’s cross-country and women’s volleyball posted perfect scores of 1,000.

This is just the third year of APR data, and the NCAA’s threatened penalties aren’t going to really kick in across the board until the fourth year. But the numbers are a useful signpost for UA, indicating that diligence and persistence in the academic area should mean that everything will be fine. It’s about the same situation with every other SEC (and BCS) school.

One can argue why this is the case, although there are at least a couple of obvious reasons.

For one thing, a BCS school can afford to be slightly more selective in its recruiting than a smaller school, which might mean being more academically selective (although that’s not absolutely true in every case).

Second, when the NCAA sets out a standard, the BCS schools are in a far better financial position to throw resources at achieving the target numbers -- more tutors, larger academic centers and so forth. Alabama has certainly made that investment in recent years. The schools that couldn’t throw cash at the problem -- including many historically black colleges and a number of schools located in the Hurricane Katrina-affected areas of the Southeast -- suffered most.

There are still areas of concern for the bigger schools. The main point of emphasis out of NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis is clearly going to be men’s basketball, where the overall rates are not good. Alabama, for instance, posted a 932 -- not great, but above the 925 threshold. Eight other SEC teams are below 925, including Auburn, which posted an ominous-sounding 877. The Tigers aren’t in immediate danger of basketball sanctions because the NCAA is still making “squad-size" adjustments, but does need to start graduating players. Oddly, Auburn is last in the league in basketball, but first in football, ahead of even Vanderbilt. (Various explanations could be posited.)

If you don’t think basketball is being noticed, just look at Myles Brand’s comments on the NCAA’s official blog spot.

“We have realized improvement in some of the areas that needed it," Brand said. “Football is up -- that’s good. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise, though, is in baseball, which is up significantly. It’s not perfect -- we’re still not where we want to be in men’s basketball. We have a lot of work to do there and it’s going to be a challenge."

Everyone -- even the big schools -- need to take that hint. But for the moment, the APR is far more of a worry at the South Alabamas and Florida Internationals than it is at the Alabamas and Auburns -- and, if that changes, then rest assured that the big schools will keep applying the resources until the potential problems are fixed.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0225