OT: More B'Ball Recruiting Madness - The Fall Scouting Period Boycott

[Charliebball]

The business of college recruiting never ceases to amaze!!!

The Fall Boycott Rumors | Prospects Nation

 

[f1f1ferrari]

Business is right! Let's set up these events using unpaid high school kids, and then charge college recruiters to see them! I may be wrong but I would think it would be better for a recruiter to see them in a regular high school season game than a cobbled-together event meant to make someone some money.

 

[Orangutan]

Interesting...would love to hear it from the perspective of one of the coaches boycotting but that's unlikely to happen.

Different take on the same topic - Clay's Take On Fall Eval Weekend | Prospects Nation

 

[UcMiami]

Not mentioned here that I noticed in the fairly quick scan I made, is a dominant theme from college coaches over the past decade - that HS kids are spending too much time playing AAU games and not enough time actually getting quality coaching with their HS team. The more AAU events and especially one during a HS scholastic year, is time HS kids are not spending with their HS team. I imagine that is a significant reason behind this move from a lot of college coaches. With some players reportedly focusing exclusively on their AAU team, this 'boycott' may be even more pointed.

The other issue I have is that the evaluation criteria that Hansen describes at a HS game, while obviously having some merit, is a very short sighted one. Most coaches and very particularly the best ones, are evaluating the person when they watch a HS game, and not their specific skills which they have already determined are worthy of being recruited - can they shoot, do they have a good handle, are they an active and intelligent rebounder, etc.

 

[wallman]

I don't know anyone who likes the fall eval, other than those who make money off of it. Coaches are in the midst of visits and calls, there are too many small events spread over the country so it is difficult to get people to those that you need to cover. High School has started and there are conflicts with HS coaches and club coaches.

 

[CocoHusky]

Not mentioned here that I noticed in the fairly quick scan I made, is a dominant theme from college coaches over the past decade - that HS kids are spending too much time playing AAU games and not enough time actually getting quality coaching with their HS team. The more AAU events and especially one during a HS scholastic year, is time HS kids are not spending with their HS team. I imagine that is a significant reason behind this move from a lot of college coaches. With some players reportedly focusing exclusively on their AAU team, this 'boycott' may be even more pointed.

The other issue I have is that the evaluation criteria that Hansen describes at a HS game, while obviously having some merit, is a very short sighted one. Most coaches and very particularly the best ones, are evaluating the person when they watch a HS game, and not their specific skills which they have already determined are worthy of being recruited - can they shoot, do they have a good handle, are they an active and intelligent rebounder, etc.

UC I actually agree with Chris on this one. HS basketball is putrid for the most part at least where I live, typically the HS girls coach is a teacher at the school who collects a few extra dollars by volunteering to coach Girls basketball. You also need to almost take UCONN definitely and the other perennial top 20 programs ND etc out of this discussion. By the time a Geno or Muffett shows up to evaluate a kid much has already been confirmed. It's a different story for the most other schools and although you are evaluating for the same things (can they shoot, do they have a good handle, are they an active and intelligent rebounder) the other aspect is can they do the same things against D1 caliber defense. You typically don't get DIII caliber defense in most HS games but you almost are guaranteed at least DII caliber defense at these show case events.

 

[UcMiami]

On thing that I think is important to note - college basketball is not a homogenous whole - there are 25-50 elite programs that can pretty much do their own thing on recruiting because of funding and reputation. There are another 75-100 programs that at least have general name recognition, and then there are an addition 200+ programs that are generally pretty desperate for talented recruits anywhere they can find them and mostly locally/regionally. And that is just D1, there are also D2 and 3 coaches looking for players.

So what Uconn or ND or the whole of the SEC or any of the other elite programs does or does't do around evaluation periods is only the small tip of a very diverse collection of coaches. We being fans of one of the elites and most of the visitors here being fans of other elite programs have a very different take than someone following teams in the Southern conference for example. Those coaches have little reason to travel across the country for one of the elite events because they are recruiting locally or at most regionally and they can only dream of hitting the lottery and having an EDD show up in their gym and ask if she could join their team like the Delaware coach experienced. Regional events in the fall may be quite appealing to them.

 

[UcMiami]

UC I actually agree with Chris on this one. HS basketball is putrid for the most part at least where I live, typically the HS girls coach is a teacher at the school who collects a few extra dollars by volunteering to coach Girls basketball. You also need to almost take UCONN definitely and the other perennial top 20 programs ND etc out of this discussion. By the time a Geno or Muffett shows up to evaluate a kid much has already been confirmed. It's a different story for the most other schools and although you are evaluating for the same things (can they shoot, do they have a good handle, are they an active and intelligent rebounder) the other aspect is can they do the same things against D1 caliber defense. You typically don't get DIII caliber defense in most HS games but you almost are guaranteed at least DII caliber defense at these show case events.

I am not sure about the defense - often you get sort of All-Star game quality offense and defense at the AAU events from what I hear.

 

[CocoHusky]

I am not sure about the defense - often you get sort of All-Star game quality offense and defense at the AAU events from what I hear.

No doubt. But that's AAU in general, there are some good coaches out there that are telling the kids what to do to make a good impression on the coaches and defense should come up in that discussion along with sharing the ball and being a good teammate etc. Then there is the ugly part of parents and coaches tell kids stupid things that results in that one girl who things the way to make an impression is to shoot the ball every time she touches it-because her dad is going to yell at her if she doesn't. Sorry I had a bad flash back there for a second- it was not pretty!

 

[HuskyMJ]

Interesting...would love to hear it from the perspective of one of the coaches boycotting but that's unlikely to happen.

Different take on the same topic - Clay's Take On Fall Eval Weekend | Prospects Nation

So this article mentions providing food and shelter for 250 people, which I call BS. Most of the people who work a tournament are probably part time, hourly workers and if they didn't work this event they would work another event. Referees, scorekeepers and so forth. Then read the article below and you'll see the hypocrisy

The business of college recruiting never ceases to amaze!!!

The Fall Boycott Rumors | Prospects Nation

This article mentions the average price for attendance, around $200 something. What they don't mention is that coaches are boycotting because these scouts who wrote these two blogs charge over $590 for their event! So they charge mor re than double everyone else and somehow have trouble providing their employees with money to feed their families. I'm not buying that, because how do the event operators that charge $100-$200 survive?

 

[stamfordhusky]

I would think it would be better for a recruiter to see them in a regular high school season game than a cobbled-together event meant to make someone some money.

Unfortunately not true at all. Dominating against players who are much less athletic and/or shorter and/or much weaker doesn't help to evaluate a player. The main reason coaches show up at HS games at all is simply to make their presence known. Geno tries to evaluate the relationship the recruit has with her teammates as well. But there is not much else that can be judged from watching 99% of HS games.