Why Detroit Mercy basketball will be banned from postseason in 2026-27

Detroit Mercy men's basketball was one game away from the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

Even if somehow the Titans win every game next year, including the Horizon League Tournament, coach Mark Montgomery's squad will not compete in the 2026-27 postseason. This news comes in a letter sent from the university to donors and supporters, which states on Tuesday, May 5, the NCAA will release its annual Academic Progress Rate result which will prohibit Detroit Mercy from competing in the postseason.

APR is the "academic progress rate" of a program, which out of a possible 1,000 points cannot fall below 930 on a four-year rolling average. Teams have been required to achieve either the 930 four-year average or a 940 average over the most recent two years since the rule was implemented more than two decades ago (2003) as a strategy to improve graduation and retention rates in college athletics.

"Unfortunately, the men's basketball program did not meet the required 930 APR standard set forth by the NCAA," Director of Athletics Robert C. Vowels Jr. wrote in a letter to donors and fans. "As a result, the program will face sanctions for the upcoming 2026-27 season, which includes a NCAA postseason ban, which is particularly disappointing."

A postseason ban is the most serious of the possible offenses the NCAA can levy on a program for failing to meet the minimum threshold: the others are reducing practices, scholarships or some combination of the three.

Unfortunately for the Titans, this isn't a new phenomenon. This will mark the third occasion in the past 10 years where Detroit Mercy has fallen below the necessary APR threshold: in 2017-18 the program was given both a postseason ban and practice sanctions while in 2023-24, when the program missed the line by just one point, had a practice reduction, both of which occurred under former coach Mike Davis.

Montgomery, a former Michigan State assistant, took over after that 2023-24 season when the Titans won just a single game and began to turn the program around. That began with an 8-24 mark in 2024-25 before a 17-15 campaign this past season.

Detroit Mercy peaked at the end of the season, going 9-3 in its final 12 games down the stretch which included a run to the Horizon League Tournament championship game. The Titans led by 12 in the second half of that game, but couldn't hold on as Wright State stormed back for a 66-63 victory to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Detroit Mercy has appeared in the NCAA Tournament just once this century, when it lost 65-50 as a 15-seed to 2-seed Kansas in 2012. The last time before that was 1999.

Vowels continued to express support for Montgomery, who according to a report recently signed an extension through the 2030-31 season.

"While our program has undergone several changes over the last few years, we now have a new academic improvement plan in place to address the evolving NCAA era," Vowels Jr. said. "Head coach Mark Montgomery is committed to the Titans, and the coaching staff has been fully invested in academic monitoring and success since their arrival last year."

Vowels pointed out that academics at Detroit Mercy, despite these optics, are strong. In his letter he stated last fall 16 of the 17 programs earned a team GPA of 3.0 or higher and said more than half (155 of our 300) of student-athletes were named to the Dean’s List.

That included 32 who achieved a perfect 4.0, and 256 who had a GPA of 3.0 or above while competing at the Division I level.

"Given the momentum from this past season, we recognize this is not the outcome anyone hoped for," he said. Our athletics staff pursued all available avenues for adjustments, including waivers and appeals, but ultimately those efforts were not successful."

Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Mercy basketball banned from postseason in 2026-27