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                                      It was sold-out at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai when the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans played their preseason game on Oct. NFL Jerseys Free Shipping . 9, the first of the two NBA Global Games hosted in China this year. A month later, however, as the 18,000-seating stadium is hosting the Pac-12 mens hoops season opener, the turnout on Saturday (Friday 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2) might serve to gauge the success of the NCAAs campaign to gain influence in the Asian sports powerhouse.The Harvard vs Stanford matchup, a sequel to last years first Pac-12 China Game (Washington-Texas) that only sold a few hundred tickets, might enjoy a slightly better chance of exposure given the two schools academic prestige in China as well as their well-known NBA products, such as the Brooklyn Nets Jeremy Lin and Brook Lopez (known as a former teammate of Chinese star Yi Jianlian from 2008 to 2010).Lin doesnt recall any discussions of an exhibition game in China when playing at Harvard, but he thinks the game has definitely grown a lot globally.After the NBA, college sports -- college basketball [in particular] -- is going to be big.Lopez, a former Stanford center, says he still holds fresh memory of beating Lins Harvard at home a few years ago.We definitely won that game, no question. Lopez says. Its reality. Its not hypothetical.To many Harvard and Stanford alumni, Saturdays game is simply a good reason for a get-together.A sports competition is the last thing people in China expect between the two academically strong schools, says Frank Wang, one of more than 300 Stanford alumni based in Shanghai. So the outcome of the game is not really important.Amy Yang, a Harvard alumnae living in Shanghai who will be at the game, wasnt into basketball when studying in the United States.But now its different because there isnt any Harvard element around me in Shanghai except for a few other alumni, she said. So I will go to the game for memory ... I hope I will get to meet more alumni at the game.The NCAA is following in the steps of the NBA, which first introduced its Global Games to Shanghai in 2004 when the countrys biggest sports ambassador -- ex-Rockets star Yao Ming?-- was just on track to dominate the paint in the years coming. The NCAA is pushing aggressively to get its share of the pie by leveraging support from its local partner, the Federation of University Sports of China (FUSC), which operates under the Chinese government.China -- under President Xi Jinping, who is known to be an avid sports fan -- is seeing a booming sports industry exemplified by heavy grassroots campaigns to invest in developing youth sports and building a national athletic infrastructure. In the private sector, online media companies are signing big broadcasting deals at home and abroad while domestic sports leagues are in a cutthroat competition to lure ex-NBA stars (Josh Smith being the most recent) and European football managers in order to draw eyeballs their games.Its a golden opportunity for the NCAA to seize as well if they can find the next Jeremy Lin, but the road is full of challenges. Ask Ma Jian, an ex-Chinese national team forward who played for the University of Utah in the early 1990s. As the first Chinese national to play NCAA Division I basketball, Mas bold choice was seen by many as an unorthodox move. In the past two decades, he has witnessed first-hand the vast changes in the games landscape but still sees the shortcomings in the Chinese market.The system for student athletes to become professionals doesnt exist in China, says Ma, now a basketball analyst. The quality of campus-level sports league is unpromising. Im very excited to see what NCAA can show and bring to China -- can it help Chinas student athletes to find more opportunities? Can NCAA share its experiences and work with the Chinese University Basketball Association (CUBA)? Its not easy, but there is a way. You cant just come in and sell the ticket to everyone. Its a long process that requires collaboration and strategy.The NCAA has been looking at China for a few years. With an increasing number of Chinese students studying at American universities (more than 300,000 in 2014-15), schools such as Duke and Georgetown would play some summer exhibition games in the country.The Chinese fan base for the NCAA is still relatively weak, cautions Li Shuangfu, co-founder of Lanxiong Sports, a leading sports business and media company. China has had NBA China Games and Euroleague Basketball World Tour, so it is very hard for the NCAA to break the ground and grow.Li says that even as China continues to emerge as a sports power, the NCAA should have a reasonable expectation for their immediate impact in the country and be aware that their opportunity is limited.A household name in China, Lin says the key to expand the NCAAs outreach in China is to focus on the game itself.Playing games over there or bringing the game over there...just giving them the exposure to it [will be crucial]. If they have the opportunity to see these games, they will fall in love with college basketball players as well.ESPN.coms Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report Nike NFL Jerseys China . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Cheap NFL Jerseys Shop . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. http://www.nfljerseyschinastore.com/ . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The NCAA announced Tuesday that 77 percent of black mens Division I basketball players who entered college in 2009 earned a degree within six years, up five points from a year earlier and a record high.That improvement helped the overall Graduation Success Rate match last years record of 86 percent of athletes graduating within six years, the NCAA said. Of all black Division I student-athletes, 74 percent graduated within six years. NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a news release the improved rates were hugely significant.Over the last 15 years, the overall Graduation Success Rate has dramatically improved, but the really good news is how college sports helps more and more minority students, especially those playing our highest-profile sport, earn a degree that will help them long after their athletics career is over, he said.The graduation rate for black basketball players is up 31 percentage points over the past 15 years, the NCAA said . Overall, all black male athletes have increased their GSR by 19 percentage points to 70 percent during that time. Black female athletes improved their rate 13 points to 84 percent over that same time.For all Division I athletes, the rate increased 12 percentage points during the past 15 years.B. David Ridpath, an associate professor and sports business and president of The Drake Group, an NCAA watchdog, said the GSR provides only a partial picture, pointing to reports of athletes at North Carolina taking courses aimed at boosting their GPAs in a department popular with athletes.Are we essentially practicing eligibility maintenance, potentially in a major with friendly faculty? he said. Are these kids graduating with a very meaningful, vital degree that can benefit them for the next 50 to 60 years of their life? In some cases, yes, this is happening. But all too often -- aand I know this because I worked in college athletics -- were essentially pushing these kids through, keeping them eligible and in cases where they do graduate they might not be graduating with the requisite skills. Jerseys NFL Wholesale China. Among football teams in The Associated Press Top 25 , the only teams with a GSR 65 percent or lower were No. 25 Troy at 65 percent and No. 13 Oklahoma State at 50 percent. Among Top 25 mens basketball teams , No. 4 Oregon had a GSR of 38 percent, No. 25 California 40 percent, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 24 Cincinnati all had GSRs of 50 percent, and No. 13 Michigan State has a GSR of 63 percent.The University of Connecticut mens basketball team had one of the lower graduation rates at 22 percent, according to the latest results. But those 2009 numbers were actually a big improvement over previous years. The teams GSR rose from just 8 percent in 2006, 17 percent the following year and 20 percent in 2008.School spokesman Mike Enright said the poor graduation rate reflects the same time period for which UConn was sanctioned by the NCAA and missed the 2013 postseason because of an another indicator, the Academic Progress Rate, which measures whether players are in good academic standing.The school has reported perfect or near perfect APR scores since 2012-13 and is expecting similar numbers this year, Enright said. He also said all current members of the basketball team are on track to graduate.The academic achievement of our mens basketball team has been outstanding the past several years and I have a full expectation that this will continue, athletic director David Benedict said.---AP Sports Writer Pat Eaton-Robb in Storrs, Connecticut, contributed to this report. ' ' '