You may not know it, but as the
AAU basketball season approaches, the NCAA Board of Directors has been busy drafting legislation that will change the face of summer basketball.
Clay Dade's BlogTalk Radio Show has shined a light on the fact that the NCAA will soon pass new rules that will prohibit tournaments, camps and other events from being held on D-I college campuses.
That's right, mega tournaments like Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions (Duke, North Carolina and NC State), Pittsburgh Jam Fest (University of Pittsburgh), It
Takes 5
ive Classic (University of Cincinnati), King James Classic (University of Akron and Kent State University), Real Deal on the Rock/Hill (University of Arkansas), Wallace
Prather (
Georgia Tech) will all have to find new homes. It's not just tournaments, but elite camps such as the
Lebron James Skills Academy (University of Akron & Cleveland State), Reebok U (
Philadelphia University) and other high profile camps will have to relocate. It's not just the big guys, but smaller more local and regional events will also have to find new court space. Don't forget the
McDonald's All-American Game (Ohio State
University this year) which could also be impacted. In addition, events like Clay
Dade's Jr. All-American Camp, which was held at the University of Kentucky this past summer, will be forced to move.
Why is the NCAA taking such drastic steps? Some people close to the game feel that the NCAA is trying to reduce the
influence of grassroots/
AAU basketball, while returning the power and influence currently enjoyed by travel team coaches and program directors, to high school basketball coaches. Critics will also point to earlier NCAA legislation, which limited "open periods" for college coaches to a few weeks in July as a way of discouraging
AAU coaches and players from traveling to elite tournaments around the country, as more
evidence of the
NCAA's bad intentions. The general rule of thought is, if college coaches were not present at these tournaments, travel teams would pass on the big boys and choose instead, to attend smaller, more local and regional events. As we all know, the rule changes did not achieve their intended goals, as travel teams continued to attend these big time tournaments. Now, instead of following the college coaches, the teams and players follow the scouting services and continue to take advantage of the opportunity to take
what amounted to
unofficial visits on these
college campuses. Other NCAA
initiatives such as the popular
iHoops program-also known as First Team-are seen as more
intrusion into grassroots basketball.
It's not just the NCAA who is pushing this
legislation, which will take effect
immediately, just in time for
AAU season, but many college coaches support the changes because of the
perceived advantages these large tournaments provide to their
colleagues. Think about it, you are a big time recruit who has the chance to tour the facilities and
campuses at North Carolina, Duke and NC State while spending a weekend at the Bob Gibbons
TOC. Chances are, you are going to be
influenced by the experience. Coaches from
colleges who do not host such events feel these schools have an unfair
advantage by hosting these types of events. It's also important to note that although
coaches on
those host campuses are prohibited from watching the actual games going on their campuses, they always seem to be around at the end of the event to greet prospective recruits and their families as they depart the tournaments.
College presidents have endorsed
Proposal No. 2009-100 as well, despite the fact that their universities are currently suffering during this poor economy, and will lose revenue streams from these summer events. Talk about
panicking, what about the major tournament organizers like the Hoop Group, who hosts huge tournaments at the University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Providence? Without the facility space these universities offer, not to mention the allure of playing on college campuses, these tournaments could suffer a significant financial impact.
The reality is, the big tournaments will find away to adjust to the new rules, and will continue to generate big profits; it's the players and their families who will miss the opportunity to play at storied venues such as Cameron Indoor
Stadium or the Dean Dome. It's the players who will not get to
experience the thrill of playing on the floor of their favorite program and hanging out on various college campuses around the country. Instead of playing on the floor of
UC Arena in Cincinnati during the first week of July, players will
likely be playing in dimly lit recreation centers, on small middle school courts and older high school
gymnasiums around the country. Thanks NCAA for
diminishing the
experience of grassroots basketball.
