College Coaches Banned from April Evaluation Period

In one of the dumber moves by the NCAA in recent memory (and yes, there are many dumb moves to choose from), a committee has decided to no longer allow college coaches access to the big AAU tournaments that take place directly after the high school season ends. This new rule will put a lot of college coaches in a bind, being that they can't actually see the kids they are hoping to add to their recruiting classes as late period signees. Most hurt will be the coach who gets a job in the spring and is forced to add some players for depth due to transfers and attrition, a al Tom Crean last year. A big downside is that this rule will lessen further the role that the high school coach has in a player's recruitment, and heighten the role that some AAU coaches have in recruitment. This is not all bad. There are some very excellent AAU coaches that truly care about a kid's best interest and basketball career, like local teams from Spiece and Indiana Elite. However, there are many who are just out to make a name for themselves or their team who will use this to their advantage, trying to "sell" their players to big-name schools, just so they can say, "I've got a kid at so-and-so university, so my team is the real deal." With college coaches forced to take the word of AAU coaches come April, this could be a very bad rule change for a lot of kids who simply want to find the best basketball home to pursue their hoop dreams. Here is a link from Andy Katz's article on ESPN.com about the new April Evaluation rule:



http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3844643&name=katz_andy