| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
While the NCAA convened with select coaches Thursday and a few media members Friday to discuss summer recruiting, college basketball's governing body must understand that the summer is about relationships.
|  | | Mike Krzyzewski says coaches need more contact with recruits in the summer -- not less. |
Legislating relationships is nearly impossible.
Summer coaches, and that's the key word (not AAU), are enmeshed in their players' lives throughout the school year. They might coach them for only three weeks in the summer, but the players usually lean on the summertime coach for advice throughout the calendar year. Players traditionally are closer to their summer coach than their high school coach because they spend more quality time with the summer coach (summer, weekends and holidays).
When Donnell Harvey decided to go to Florida, he leaned on Wallace Prather, his summer coach with the Atlanta Celtics. When Harvey declared for the draft, he conferred with Prather more than Florida coach Billy Donovan. And, when Harvey wanted to make a decision about an agent, he called on Prather for his thoughts.
There's nothing wrong with that, but it's reality in today's college basketball. Picking Prather over Donovan should be expected, considering that Harvey has a history with Prather and spent only one year with Donovan. But this occurs all over the country.
"Believe it or not, this is an organized structure for these kids," Prather said two weeks ago in Las Vegas. "I've worked with Atlanta Parks and Rec for years, and we've had so many kids who have had their first plane flight with us and so on. There are so many cultural things that get overlooked when you start emphasizing the bad things."
But the NCAA is expected to make changes. The recruiting calendar will be reduced by 10 days next summer from 24 to 14, with the 10 days put back into the school year. The meetings Thursday and Friday in Indianapolis are expected to shed some light on what might occur in 2002. Media reports consistently have gotten it wrong for 2002. The NCAA will have summer recruiting, as said by NCAA president Cedric Dempsey, but not in the same form.
So, how do you break relationships, if that's the intent?
Access.
"We need to call the players earlier," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "How do you eliminate the middle man? By having more access. Spread out the summer more and give more contact in the school year. In the early '90s, when cost-cutting was going on, the student council had tennis and golf players on it and not basketball players. They didn't want more access."
But the basketball players want to hear from the coaches now.
Throughout July, ESPN.com asked prospective players if they wanted to see changes in the summer. The answer was a resounding no, except for a few comments about the pressure being too intense during the evaluation periods. But, overall, the players wanted to talk to the coaches more, not less.
"Coaches can't come out during the regular season," said Northwestern Edison (Flint, Mich.) High's Kelvin Torbert said. "They should have more days, not less to evaluate during the season."
A few solutions being offered throughout July by coaches and players were: spread out the evaluation periods with a week in June, two in July and a week in August; allow coaches to call players early in their junior years and have a third signing period, possibly in late August. The converse to this is to get rid of the entire early signing period and put all the pressure back on the high schools during the school year. The majority of schools who rely heavily on the summer are afraid of this because the field of players would remain too broad until the spring.
"If you have some recruiting period in June, when high schools are in session, then you can take care of the high school and summer coaches," said Chris Grier, who runs the Michigan Mustangs summer team.
But the consensus is that taking the college coaches away from the summer would limit the exposure of players who need to be seen like Aaron Miles. The Portland, Ore., guard said he never got the recognition coming up through high school until this past spring and summer. Miles, who plays at Jefferson High in Portland, is one of the top guards in the nation entering his senior year.
"The NCAA has it all wrong," said potential No. 1 player Eddy Curry of Thornwood High (Ill). "The whole reason high school guys play in the summer is to get a college scholarship. College coaches have to watch players."
But something has to be done about Nike and adidas bidding for players, too. Curry was at the middle of this mess when he switched from Nike to adidas after being wooed all year by both grassroot basketball programs.
"We can't have head-to-head camps if they want change," adidas camp organizer Sonny Vaccaro said about the camps' same dates (July 5-10) to accommodate July's 8-31 evaluation period. "Having Nike and adidas at the same time forces them to compete against each other for the same kids. Once you get a kid, he's on a Nike or adidas track for the summer."
And, once they're on that track, they're tending to commit earlier and earlier. The pressure of the early-signing period is making players commit without taking official visits. DePaul coach Pat Kennedy said players are tired from traveling all summer and usually squeeze in unofficial visits along the way. But still ...
"Most kids make bad decisions and more coaches are making poor decisions," Vaccaro said.
Three weeks ago, players were saying that early summer coaching moves would have an adverse affect on early commitments and the early signing period in November. Instead, players are committing on a daily basis.
"I still like the early commitment, but remember, I committed before my junior year to Indiana," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "When you find a kid who fits your situation then you want him to make a decision right away so he can concentrate on his senior year. If he does, he doesn't have the stress of taking five official visits during the fall. It helps recruiting for the majors and mid-majors. If you don't have the early signing period then the recruiting picture isn't as clear for the spring (in April)."
Coaches, especially first-year coaches, don't want to spend the year on the road instead of being with their team.
"I can't imagine doing that," second-year Marquette coach Tom Crean said.
Yet, the early-signing period contributes to the monster in the summer that the NCAA is trying to change.
Recruiting still will come down to relationships. College coaches are looking for a point person. Lately, it hasn't been the high school coach or, even the parents, siblings or relatives. The most influential person, for a number of high-profile players, has been the summer coach. That won't change by simply taking away coaches from watching players in the summer.
"The best solution is to keep it the way it is," said guard Carlos Hurt, who plays at Houston's Alief Elsik High and has committed to Louisville. "The more we're seen in the summer, the easier it is on the coaches. There are a million high schools they would have to get to. The way it is now, they only have to get to a few places."
Selection committee shake-up
Lost amid the coaching moves in June and July were two significant shifts by athletic directors. N.C. State's Les Robinson went to I-AA Citadel and Iowa State's Gene Smith moved to Arizona State.
The significance?
Both are members of the NCAA Tournament selection committee and have to vacate their positions. Smith has to go because Arizona athletics director Jim Livengood is on the committee. Two athletic directors from the same conference can't be on the committee. Robinson has to leave because he dropped down a division, which upsets the 6-4 maximum balance of I-A and I-AA selection committee members.
The end result is a selection committee that was considered inexperienced last March just got greener.
"It's unusual, especially since we just went from nine to 10 and added another new person," said Tom Jernstedt, the NCAA's senior vice president in charge of the men's basketball selection committee. "We've always strived for balance with seasoned veterans on the committee."
Under the bylaws of the committee, neither Smith nor Robinson would be removed from the committee until after the next meeting. But that causes a problem because the next meeting isn't until December in Atlanta. If that were to occur, then the first meeting for the two new members would be selection weekend in Indianapolis in March 2001.
Jernstedt expects the rule to change to push up the arrival of two new members. The members don't have to come from the ACC or the Big 12, but they have to fit the criteria of being a diverse candidate and someone who won't upset the I-A or I-AA balance.
The end result is this will be the most inexperienced committee. Only four members will have picked the field for more than one tournament -- new chair and Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, Middle Tennessee athletic director Lee Fowler, Missouri Valley commissioner Doug Elgin and Santa Clara athletic director Carroll Williams.
Livengood, UNC Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose and George Washington athletic director Jack Kvancz made their debuts last March. Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby will make his this year, replacing Mountain West commissioner and former chair Craig Thompson. Now add two more.
The terms are for four years, but there is talk of changing that to two three-year terms, with an option on the second three years.
The NCAA will hold another mock bracket seminar in February, which has essentially become mandatory now for all committee members.
Weekly chatter
The Pac-10 would be making a mistake by adding an eight-team conference tournament at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (the ADs voted for it, and the league will review it in October at a Pac-10 presidents meeting). What's the purpose? The Pac-10 doesn't need a tournament to get more teams in the NCAA Tournament. The event likely will be a loser financially, as it was in the past.
Going to the Staples Center isn't a destination for Pac-10 fans. This tournament needs to be on a campus site for it to be a success. Home-court advantage during tournaments is overrated (rarely did the WAC champion win on its home court during the late '80s and early '90s). The Pac-10 regular season means something, more so than any other conference. The coaches should voice their concern and leave it alone.
Britton Johnsen returned from his Mormon mission with patella tendinitis. Utah coach Rick Majerus is already concerned that Johnsen won't be that effective in his first season back after two years away from basketball. Johnsen had surgery prior to his mission, but atrophy settled in while he was away. The Utes were expecting Johnsen to replace Hanno Mottola in the lineup at small forward. Johnsen was an integral reserve for the Utes in '98 when they lost the national title game to Kentucky.
The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic officially announced its pairings, but it will be hard to surpass last year's drama. Iowa defeated Connecticut and Stanford beat Duke on the first day of upsets. Kansas will play UCLA and Kentucky will go against St. John's on Nov. 9. The winners and losers will meet Nov. 10. Kansas last opened on the road in 1996 when it beat Santa Clara in San Jose, Calif.
Kansas is expected to be ranked in the top 10, while Kentucky should be on the fringe if not nudging the Jayhawks for top 10 status. UCLA and St. John's will be on the fringe of the top 25. Regardless, the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic likely will raise another windfall for the American Cancer Society. The tournament raised $500,000 last year.
The announcement of the field comes on the heals of the conference commissioners recommendation to eliminate exempted events after 2002 (Click here for the complete story).
"These tournaments aren't bad for college basketball," said Rick Giles, president of the Gazelle Group, which organizes the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. "This tournament raises a lot of money for a great cause."
Kentucky's schedule should prepare the Wildcats for the rugged SEC. The Wildcats follow the Coaches vs. Cancer tourney with a home game against Penn State at Rupp Arena, where they've won 20 consecutive games (sixth-longest streak in the nation). Five of the next seven games will be on the road, including at North Carolina on Dec. 2, at Georgia Tech on Dec. 9, and at Michigan State on Dec. 16. The Wildcats and Tar Heels haven't played a home-and-home regular season series since '90. The high-profile schedule continues in Louisville against Indiana on Dec. 22 and against the Cardinals on Jan. 2. The only other non-conference game will be against Notre Dame on Jan. 13 in Lexington.
Meanwhile, Indiana still hasn't decided when coach Bob Knight will sit out his three-game suspension. Indiana president Myles Brand said at a May news conference that his suspension wouldn't include exempted, holiday tournaments. That makes sense, but only because the Hoosiers are in the Preseason NIT. Indiana could play four games in the tournament, and it wouldn't be fair to have Knight come off a suspension in an NIT final at Madison Square Garden against Duke. Knight should sit the next three games after the Preseason NIT. If that occurs, then he would miss out on a road game at Indiana State (Nov. 29), Southern Illinois (Dec. 2), at Notre Dame (Dec. 5).
The rest of the Hoosiers' non-conference slate has a few bumps in it, but the games are at home -- UNC Charlotte (Dec. 16), Missouri (Dec. 18) and the two fodder-filled Hoosier tournaments. Outside of Indiana State and Notre Dame, the Hoosiers will play the above-mentioned game against Kentucky. Notre Dame has a shot to beat the Hoosiers at home in Mike Brey's first year, but Indiana State's chance to defeat the Hoosiers came last year in Bloomington when they shocked IU.
Marquette is desperately looking for a team to complete its four-team tournament Dec. 1-2. The Golden Eagles already have Centenary and Cal State-Northridge committed to the field. Whoever draws the Matadors won't have an easy game. Northridge should be the favorite to win the Big Sky.
Ball State is looking for a team to fill its Dec. 1-2 tournament. The field includes Princeton and Weber State, which makes finding a fourth team extremely tough for the host Cardinals.
Seton Hall continued its Tim Thomas Playaz summer-league connection by snagging Coatesville High's (Pa.) John Allen for 2001. The Pirates recruited Eddie Griffin and Marcus Toney-El off that team a year ago.
Well-traveled and oft-controversial guard Doug Wrenn is expected to surface at Washington. Wrenn lasted one season at Connecticut before being tossed off the team. But Washington coach Bob Bender won't put up with any shenanigans and has a list of demands for Wrenn to adhere to if he wants to stay on the team. Wrenn, a Seattle native from O'Dea High, has to sit out the season before being eligible. Bender had to take a chance on Wrenn after losing star guard Senque Carey to New Mexico.
The ineligible list continues to grow for next season: Rutgers will be without signees Herve Lamizana and Eddie Starks, but both will sit out the year as redshirts; Memphis is without Lou Wright; Marquette won't have Dwayne Wade; Florida is appealing Orien Greene's eligibility.
Tulsa will lean heavily inside on seldom-used reserve DeAngelo McDaniel, Kevin Johnson and freshman Jack Ingram and leading returning scorer David Shelton after signee Ermal Kuqo said he wasn't going to play at Tulsa next season. New coach Buzz Peterson isn't fretting Kuqo's loss, but he isn't about to release him, either. That's why Kuqo is expected to go to Seminole (Okla.) College.
"I want people who want to play for the University of Tulsa," Peterson said.
Nike begins its annual coaches/players (NBA) meetings in Kona, Hawaii, Saturday. Nike college coaches are expected to attend two mandatory meetings. The rest of the time is for schmoozing, tennis, golf and sunning. The only negative for the coaches this year? No kids allowed.
Injuries and fatigue have led to the cancellation of the Pro Trust summer tour of Europe. Players like Kelvin Torbert, Gerald Wallace and Jared Jeffries were supposed to play on the traveling team, run by Pro Trust's Bret Bearup. Bearup is looking at going on the trip in the spring, before summer recruiting.
Two coaches who would and could latch on as trusted assistants are former DePaul coach Joey Meyer and Hartford coach Paul Brazeau. Both are still on the market this August.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball runs Thursdays throughout the year. | |
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