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Butler seeds wrote:

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Thanks guys... I just think "separate admissions" for athletes defeats the purpose of being a student at the school you play for in the first place.

I agree. But only to an extent. I agree in the sense that there is something novel about "fielding a team" based on the students who made the cut academically. However, I think that there is something to be said for a university taking liberties in the admission process in an effort to "shape" each freshman class - assuming that schools aren't admitting kids that really have no business being there...it would be bad news for a school to admit a kid who truly couldn't succeed. (hopefully the NCAA's new-ish APR will help with that across the board) But in an effort to shape a class, taking liberties to admit a certain number of fill-in-the-demographic - whether it is athletics, arts, race, gender, major etc. - makes the overall experience for the student body much better when these liberties are taken.
I think that a lot of people would be surprised to know that special admission at Butler isn't limited to men's basketball. Women's BB, Men's Baseball and others get their special admits from time to time as well. And it goes beyond athletics. Every year, professors from JCFA do the same sort of lobbying for students who may not be the most stellar in an effort to fill in a missing piece...be it ballet, theatre or music.