July Recruiting to come to end?

[Muskie]

Per ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5709358)

The Conference Commissioners Association voted 31-0 at its fall meeting last month in Chicago to recommend eliminating July men's basketball recruiting beginning in 2012 to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting told ESPN.com.

According to another source, the Division I board will meet Oct. 28 and has a number of options: accept the recommendation and implement it immediately or delay the implementation; introduce new legislation and send it through the normal governance structure; direct a study of options; or do not act on the recommendation.

[Juice]

Gary Parrish has a blog post about this: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/25385837

He claims that this helps no one except the elite programs.

[muskiefan82]

Gary Parrish has a blog post about this: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6271764/25385837

He claims that this helps no one except the elite programs.

If true, then this would be good for Xavier.

[Juice]

If true, then this would be good for Xavier.

Disagree, he meant elite programs as in UK, Duke, UNC, Kansas, etc. that can pick from a pool of top players while doing very little homework. XU has a good program because it has good coaches who identify underrated talent and then turn them into good players.

[More Cowbell]

A10 COMMISH: 'I AM AGAINST ELIMINATING JULY RECRUITING' ....

“It wasn’t a 31-0 vote,” McGlade said at the conference's media day. “I was at the commissioner’s meeting, and it was not a unanimous vote. I don’t know what the exact numbers were, but it wasn’t unanimous."

http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/2010/10/21/a10_commish:_i_am_against_eliminating_july_recruit ing



Xavier coach Chris Mack said he supports the July schedule getting sliced as long as an additional weekend was added in the spring.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2010-10-21-ncaa-summer-recruiting-ban-proposal_N.htm

[BlueX]

A-10 coaches not happy with this.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post?id=16962

[rhyno2110]

This is an absolute disaster of an idea. If it passes, which it won't, we can all say good-bye to Xavier. No doubt, that period is our bread and butter, just like every other non-elite basketball school's.

Look at this crime of a statement by that USA Today article: "On a similar front with Mack, Kentucky coach John Calipari favored the move"

First of all, Mack doesn't support cutting the July recruiting period. He only will be satisfied if the part sliced will be added somewhere else. That doesn't mean he wants the current structure to be changed, like Calipari does. The ESPN article supports that Mack thinks a change in the recruiting period would make zero sense.

If anyone ever puts Mack and Calipari in the same sentence again, I might keel over my chair.

[AdamtheFlyer]

I think it's much ado about nothing. Recruiting all but the select few that can name their school is all about building a relationship early and making a kid believe you and your school is the place for them. The coaches that do it best now will still be the best, and coaches that suck at it will be exposed even more. I would expect more early commitments and less stalking kids that have already verballed.

As a Dayton fan I like it. BG and his staff excel at building a solid base from the first time they talk to a kid. Even kids that ultimately go elsewhere buy in from day 1. Jacob Pullen would have been a Flyer under this rule, because Huggins wouldn't have wasted time wooing him. Same might be true about Jerome Randall. Wright would have still been at UD, Staten as well. I think it will be a net positive.

Same with Xavier. Mack is very good at getting a kid to buy in and really look strongly at Xavier from first contact. I don't think a new rule will suddenly keep the talent that is considering X now from doing so. He wouldn't need the extra weekend earlier. I think his quote is merely an innocuous quote.

[waggy]

Blog post by Telep


The game of basketball has issues at every level of play. From a grassroots perspective, life certainly could be better and there are many who would be amenable to some form of change.

If the conference commissioners have it their way, not a single college basketball coach will be on the road evaluating players for the month of July, beginning in 2012. (Read Andy Katz’s report by clicking here).

This rash move affects coaches, players and everyone in between. Canceling the July recruiting period would not be well-received by the majority of college programs.

In order to appreciate this reaction from the commissioners, one must understand that this drastic measure is aimed at reducing "third-party influences.” Translation: limiting the power of AAU coaches.

Forget the fact that before there were corrupt AAU coaches (and lumping every AAU coach into this category is wrong), there were high school coaches who could be “influenced” (not all high school coaches are corrupt either). If someone, a school or prospect, wants to skirt the rules, there will always be a vehicle to do so.

If the powers-that-be think taking coaches off the road in July is the answer, they are incorrect. If coaches can't be on the road for 20 days in July, how are they going to make competent evaluations for their program? The NABC relayed to its members "the fact that 40 percent of our incoming freshmen leave the institution they signed to attend by the end of their sophomore year." Imagine if the colleges had less time in key settings to evaluate the players?

What is an evaluation anyway? A true evaluation is watching a player react to different situations, studying his behavior in relation to teammates, coaches and officials. These things take time, and in a perfect world, seeing a young man in multiple settings allows him to make a mistake, atone and demonstrate not only his talents but his character (and improvements, or a lack thereof). Suits in the offices have to understand that "evaluation" isn't just about how a kid plays.

Let them evaluate in the spring, you say? Wrong. The way the rules are written now, college coaches aren't able to attend spring traveling team events and have not since 2009. You know why it’s hard for college coaches to see players in the spring? Because the kids are playing in AAU events, which coaches can't attend.

One school of thought is to allow the coaches more time to go out recruiting during the year. On the surface, this might sound like a good idea. However, run this idea past the assistant coach who has to miss team practice (again) or drive through the night to get back in time for a conference game the next day.

Plus, have you ever tried convincing your head coach to miss valuable practice time, maybe once a week, to see a high school basketball player during the season? It's not an easy chore. Schools might as well designate one assistant to be the recruiter.

Is that what's best for the development of the current players as well as the professional development of the coach? Not a chance.

Think about it this way. You're a head coach getting paid $2 million a year. By January, your team is in the tank and you know you're getting fired. How many players are you going to see during the season?

Fast-forward a few months in the same program when there's a new coach. He gets the job in April and rushes out to see as many kids as possible. Maybe he's able to sign a senior late and lay eyes on a few key underclassmen. If he can't evaluate in July, that means he didn't see the prospect play in May, June, July or August. It's now September and official visits begin. Try taking over a program where the coach has been fired and you need a major talent infusion. When are you going to see the prospects play?

Then there's the argument that the best programs already know who they are recruiting. Really? Exactly when would they have deduced their final list? During the season? During the spring? Late in the summer? Do we ask college students to attend the first day of class and then immediately take the final the next week? No, you take mid-terms and study in between exams.

Consider the summer evaluation the final exam for identifying college prospects after a semester of evaluation and relationship building.

"Look, I don't like it but we have to have it," one high-major head coach said.

"Because of [our location], this rule would be DEVASTATING," another texted.

Speaking of devastating, has anyone bothered to put themselves in the shoes of a mid-major coach? Let's say you work reasonably hard during an AAU weekend and see 25 teams play over the course of three days. Your flight, hotel, rental car and meals cost you $1,000, but you evaluated 50 players.

Try doing that during the season, in this economy, when administrators are slashing budgets at the non-BCS level. Not everyone has a private plane with a school emblem, a pilot and a booster willing to foot the bill for multiple recruiting trips each month. In the real word, outside of the 10 biggest conferences, coaches use a Garmin, eat at Subway and actually check the Internet for the best hotel rates.

Forget the 25 or even the 100 best kids in the country. Leave it to the recruiting services to figure that out. What about a kid who simply wants a chance to play college basketball and knows that traveling team ball in the summer is his ticket?

That same kid who plays for a small high school team in the middle of nowhere, during July, has the chance to latch on with a traveling team and play for his scholarship. Whether he plays for a shoe-sponsored traveling team or one that does a raffle to pay for their flights, the point is he's playing in front of decision-makers and it's his chance for his one shining moment.

The NABC touts that July is the most-regulated period of any by the NCAA. You have to be stupid to walk up to a kid during a July AAU event and speak with him or his parents. Now, during the spring when you're at his high school and no one is around, what do you think is going to happen? That's right, there's going to be what amounts to a home visit right there, in plain sight, after a workout.

Let's not be naive, it happens. Do that at a sanctioned AAU event and it’s called a secondary violation. Do it at a high school, with the prospect or his coach around, and it's called working.

Just because one kid in the family misbehaves doesn't mean mom and dad cancel Christmas. Leave July to the coaches who want to work and build their programs. Those who oppose evaluating in July can stay home.

Those who want to work and see players need a window before the start of a prospect's senior year to see him in action, preferably against players of the same skill level.

Our suggestion: Snip 10 days off the July period, give the coaches two weekends to watch traveling team ball in the spring and let's see what happens.

It's a fair compromise.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/16912/telep-ax-july-recruiting-bad-news

[muskiefan82]

Disagree, he meant elite programs as in UK, Duke, UNC, Kansas, etc. that can pick from a pool of top players while doing very little homework. XU has a good program because it has good coaches who identify underrated talent and then turn them into good players.

After this weekend, I stand by my original statement that Xavier is an elite program.

[anXUfan]

A lot of A10 references:

ESPN article (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5738607)

[waggy]

I think it's a very good point that less allowable contact by college coaches = more contact with third parties. I know the NCAA wants to limit interference in young persons lives, unfortunately, these aren't your average young persons. The lesser of two evils might actually be greater contact with college coaches. Which is really better for the student-athlete?

[waggy]

"You're gonna see even more kids transfer. Let's face it: Three or four hundred kids transferred last year. If we don't have opportunities to evaluate them, more and more kids -- and universities -- are going to make bad decisions."

Greenberg said ACC coaches voted unanimously at their media day "to spearhead a move to keep July viable."

The National Association of Basketball Coaches has come out against the proposal, according to The Associated Press. CAA coaches contacted also were against it, and Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade told The AP the conference sent a letter to the Board of Directors and NCAA President Mark Emmert saying it wanted to keep the July period. Richmond is a member of the A-10.

George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said he believes eliminating it "will emphasize -- not de-emphasize -- AAU people."

"AAU people and scouting services will become far more important in the process, because they'll be the ones who have seen the kids," he said. "Rather than that being someone on my staff, it's going to be someone I have a relationship with or actually buy their scouting service.

"The less contact with the kids and the high school coaches and family, the more you empower the agents and the runners."

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/ur-athletics/2010/oct/28/bann28-ar-595817/