Basketball Verbal Recommendation

[LitlBuck]

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Coaches: No commitments before end of sophomore year
Updated: June 19, 2008, 7:40 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS -- If college basketball coaches have their way, Michael Avery would be the last eighth-grader making a college commitment.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches said Thursday it strongly opposes accepting commitments from students who have not yet completed their sophomore season in high school. The decision comes a little more than a month after the 15-year-old Avery said he would attend Kentucky, and cites NCAA rules that prohibit coaches from contacting athletes before mid-June after their sophomore season.

"If the current rules state coaches cannot offer scholarships or accept commitments from students earlier than June 15 following the conclusion of the sophomore year, it certainly makes sense that this should apply to anyone in lower grades," said NABC president Tubby Smith in a written statement released by the association.

The board of directors said the decision was made, in part, because younger athletes had not yet demonstrated either "sufficient academic credentials" to be admitted to school. The board also acknowledged it was too difficult to project how refined their basketball skills would be by graduation.

College basketball has recently seen an increase in the number of young players making early commitments.

Last year, then-eighth-grader Ryan Boatright accepted Tim Floyd's offer to play for USC. In 2006, Floyd also offered a scholarship to eighth-grader Dwayne Polee Jr. Both were 14 when the offers were made, and Boatright committed to USC before deciding where he would attend high school.

Avery's decision last month reignited the national debate about how young is too young for coaches to be recruiting players.

Continued

I don't quite understand this article but I am assuming the NABC want a gentleman's amongst all basketball coaches that they will not accept a verbal commitment or offer a high school or junior high school player a scholarship until after their sophomore year. If this is just going to be a gentleman's agreement, I don't think it is going to work then even if the NCAA would make it a recruiting rule I think it would be very difficult to enforce IMO

 

[jimotis4heisman]

[quote/jim tressel]gentlemen's agreements are only between gentlmen[/quote]
...

 

[ScriptOhio]

Gee, it sounds like the coaches just want the rule to protect themselves from their own stupidity. What a novel idea!!!

 

[MaxBuck]

Gee, it sounds like the coaches just want the rule to protect themselves from their own stupidity. What a novel idea!!!

A lot like term limits. Or salary caps. "Somebody save me from myself!"

 

[buckeydoptimist]

I'm a little fuzzy on the rules cited by Tubby.

I'm guessing that the rule is that "official"/written GIA ship offers cannot be sent until the June before their JR yr. But unoffical/verbal offers are not precluded - otherwise a LOT OF COACHES are in violation!

Verbal offers and commitments are gentleman's agreements already since nothing is official until the LOI is signed and delivered to the NCAA. Do they really think they can "harness"/monitor/stop this? Even official GIA offers are not open-ended and are just paper until a LOI is signed - I don't think kids have any recourse if they are renegged on.

I still say much of this is smokescreen and BS. If they really cared about the kids and education they'd make all ships 5 years guaranteed ( instead of one year renewable at the AD's discretion ) and give every student-athlete who signs one a good shot at graduating. instead they worry about PARITY and MAKING MISTAKES with offers too early and continually reducing ships and opportunities and other cost-cutting BS! Probably so more $ can go into their admin staffs and pockets! It should be about the KIDS FIRST - but really ISN'T!

 

[LitlBuck]

This is not an NCAA legislation currently. It was just a recommendation made at the NCAA basketball coaches convention.

 

[DaytonBuck]

I've always wondered about targeting someone that's young and how often their development stagnates/things don't work out. Derick Character was the one number player in his class as a freshman. Seems like it's more a gamble taking early verbals. You could rescind the offer but then you'd have a whole nother can of worms to deal with

 

[HailToMichigan]

First off, if they were to adopt such a rule, I can't see it being terribly enforceable. There's no way they can stop a kid saying, "I want to play for School X and I'll go if they offer me."

Second, counterintuitively, it might be beneficial for the NCAA to allow such very-early commits. The more a head coach is in the kid's life - a head coach with a very good incentive to keep his program out of trouble - the less influence there's gonna be from boosters, agents, and other slimy hangers-on. If coaches start their recruiting during a kid's junior year, they're a year or two behind the guys who are angling for shoe contracts, agency contracts and they're behind the cousins and the posse who are hoping to ride the coattails. On the other hand if a kid is sold on a scholarship and is set on playing for a college and a particular coach, it's a little easier for the coach to help the kid stay away from those who'll risk his eligibility later on.

Not that there aren't a number of downsides to super-early commitments. (Coach can get fired in the next four years, competition issues, what have you.) But neither is it all bad.

 

[IronBuckI]

This kid is 15 years old? I know a lot of people that were 15 when they finished their Sophomore year of high school. Not sure what the difference in taking a 15 year old 8th grader that plays AAU ball and a 15 year old sophomore that plays in the same age bracket would be.