I'm not saying it can't happen. Obviously Duke and Stanford are two shining examples of academics and athletics coexisting successfully. However:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/sp...r=2&ref=sports
If Harvard is constrained to an academic index of 202, as this article says, then they quite frankly are handicapped in recruiting. For example,
3.09 GPA, 600/600 SAT = 183 index
3.59 GPA, 650/650 SAT = 199 index
3.79 GPA, 650/650 SAT = 201 index
What's the minimum index allowed to play in the NCAA? 125? I don't know what index Duke and Stanford are limited to (or how many academic exceptions our administration allows), but I'd be willing to bet that it's not as high as 202. So you can say we're in the same league academically, but when it comes to athletics, we have some wiggle room that schools like Harvard simply don't have.
I agree with your point about the Ivy League schools' commitment to big time sports, though. If they change that, then they can loosen their eligibility requirements. So I think we actually agree about the root cause here.