The revolving door of players that once spun with impunity at the University of Hawaii basketball office is threatening to catch up with the Rainbow Warriors.

The departure of three more players with eligibility remaining in recent weeks has UH sweating the grades for the semester that closes May 10 and what it might mean for the team’s crucial Academic Progress Rate.

“We’re on the cliff, that’s for sure,” athletic director Ben Jay said. “Which way it falls, well see.”

Potentially at stake for the ’Bows are scholarship reductions or being barred from the postseason altogether, including the Big West, NCAA, NIT and lesser tournaments for the 2014-15 season.

The current year, officials say, is the last chance for any team that is at risk for 2014-15 to stave off potential sanctions.

 The APR is an NCAA metric that measures eligibility, retention and graduation rates and carries sanctions for chronically underperforming teams.

Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside of the Big West Conference have been barred from the postseason in recent years, and it would be an embarrassing blow for UH to be similarly cited.

The ’Bows have, so far, been able to survive two years of high player turnover in large part because scores are bundled over a four-year period and coach Gib Arnold’s predecessor, Bob Nash, posted two years of perfect scores. A score of 1,000 is achieved when all players with eligibility remaining are retained and remain in good academic standing.

But Arnold’s three-year reign has been marked with defections and APR scores have been dropping, most recently to 941, and threaten to drop below the 930 threshold that carries sanctions.

A December report to the UH Faculty Senate, in advance of the latest player exits warned, “We may need to be concerned about penalties in men’s basketball in the future.” It noted, “Men’s basketball has a much lower than normal score because of retention issues.”

Four players with eligibility remaining left after the 2011-12 season and eight have departed in Arnold’s first two years. Add to that three more — so far — from the 2012-13 team — Manroop Clair, Ozren Pavlovic and Garrett Jefferson.  

Players who do not leave in good academic standing or do not attend school cost UH APR points.

There is also concern, officials say, that senior Vander Joaquim, who walked out of UH’s final game and has been traveling, needs to close out the semester in good standing before embarking on a pro career or UH’s APR could take an additional hit.

Jay, who has met with Joaquim, declined to discuss individual athletes but said, “we’re aware of the individual cases and are monitoring them.”

UH is holding refresher sessions for its coaches on the APR this week, and if it needs an example of situations to avoid, look no further than the revolving door on the men’s basketball office.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.