Will Spring Recruiting Events Disappear
This report includes this writer's opinions which may or may not be shared by others affiliated with RivalsHoops.com or with the rivals.com network
Division I coaches are excluded from evaluating players at AAU/club events during the September/October contact period. The change was implemented last fall. The following caveat was added to this particular contact period - No evaluations at sites other than the prospect’s educational institution.
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That mean's that coaches will not be allowed to take in the Charlie Weber Invitational at Maryland or the Bob Gibbons Evaluation Clinic at Wake Forest next month. But the current rules provide a different guideline for the April contact period - Evaluations at sites other than the prospect's educational institution may occur only on weekends.
Well that could change also. A proposal from the Ivy Group (this is the orginal name of the Ivy League - more info) is on the agenda of the NCAA's Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet meeting scheduled for September 11-13, 2002. The proposal would add the fall contact period caveat to the spring period and thereby eliminate weekend tournament evaluations. Following is the rationale submitted for this change:
The men's basketball recruiting calendar was changed to allow for coaches to have in-person contacts with prospects in the spring of their junior year so that prospects would be less susceptible to the influence of those who are involved with their non-scholastic teams during the following summer. It is not necessary to evaluate prospects at weekend events in order to accomplish this objective. Allowing for evaluation on weekends (including Friday evening) has resulted in a new cottage industry of hosting tournaments for top prospects, induced prospects to travel far and wide to these events, put high school associations in the uncomfortable position of being asked to approve these events as high school events and has made determining which events are approved into a full-time job for compliance coordinators. Eliminating evaluations wil maintain the original intent without these unintended consequences. Limiting observation of junior prospects to sessions with their high school coach at the high school will reinforce the original intent.The impact of this change? Not only would Division I coaches be prohibited from evaluating top juniors at events such as the Charlie Weber tournament which has been held for many years at Villanova. Coaches would not have a chance to see players such as New Jersey's Jason Patterson, whose recruiting interest comes from a wide range of schools from the Northeast Conference's Monmouth University to the Big East's Rutgers University. It would also make it harder for colleges with unfilled scholarship slots for the upcoming season to match up with unsigned high school seniors.
These events enable coaches to go to one location and see players they might otherwise miss. The major programs in the power conferences are unlikely to be substantially hurt by this rule. It's those in the next tiers who are most likely to have their job of finding the right players made harder still.
Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet meeting agenda from the Recruiting Subcommittee (.pdf file)