Could the NCAA be doing away with the July recruiting period?

Back in July, Tom Osborne came up with the idea that college basketball should do away with the July recruiting period. His thinking?

"Summer recruiting really plays into the hands of the AAU guys, and so many of them are in league with the shoe companies," Osborne told the Omaha World-Herald. "That's where a lot of the unseemly stuff gets going."

Few believed that this idea would get any legs, but according to an Andy Katz report from late last night, the Conference Commissioner's Association voted 31-0 to eliminate July recruiting.

Back in July, Gary Parrish tore this idea to shreds. Dave Telep did the same thing last night. (I strongly recommend you read Telep's piece. There are few that understand the world of college basketball recruiting as well as Telep does, and he absolutely eviscerates this idea.) And both of them made, essentially, the same three points:

• Summer recruiting periods allow a huge number of players to congregate and play in the same area, meaning that coaches from all levels of basketball are able to go to one place to see a huge number of prospects in a short period of time all while using just one hotel room. With the recession hitting everyone hard, this enables coaches to limit the hit on their recruiting budgets. Without the July period, coaches will need to pay travel and lodging expenses every time they want to go out and see a kid play.
  
  This isn't a huge issue for schools like Duke, whose basketball budget is bigger than the athletics budget at many schools, but for those low- and mid-majors, this will be an enormous financial burden. How often are they going to miss practice to be able to see a kid play? How many hotels can they afford to stay in? How many six hour drives and cross country flights is one coach expected to make? Is it best for the player's and the coach's development if neither are able fully maximize their time in practice? As Telep says, these are already the guys that eat fast food and stay in the cheap motels. You think a lot of kids transfer schools now (over 350 this season)? Imagine if you don't allow the coaching staffs to fully evaluate their recruits.


• Put yourself in the position of a coach that takes over a new job in April. Let's say you lose the previous coach's recruiting class and three kids transfer out of the program. You are going to need an influx of talent, a la Steve Lavin at St. John's, into your program. But you're not allowed to go out and see kids play in their AAU tournaments in the spring and you're not allowed to recruit during July. When will you have a chance to see these kids play? How are you going to be able to bring players in for that season? Official visits begin in September. If you weren't able to watch anyone play over the summer, how are you going to be able to know who to get on campus for a visit? If that player has never seen you at one of their games before, how are you even going to be able to convince that kid to come?


• Eliminating July isn't going to eliminate the people that are looking to make a profit off of these kids. Shoes companies are still going to align themselves with the best summer teams in order to align themselves with the best players. Agents are still going to pursue the best high school prospects in order to sign them when they become professionals. AAU coaches are still going to have a huge amount of influence over the players that they begin coaching in elementary school.
  
  Beyond that, not all AAU coaches are bad. More than a few actually have their player's best interests in mind. Likewise, not all high school coaches are honest. There isn't a single high school coach that is looking to line his pockets to send his star to so-and-so university? There is a lot of money to be made off of our amateur basketball players, and as long as that is true, there are going to be people taking advantage of them to make that money, July recruiting period or no July recruiting period.
  

Telep's best point, however, is this:

Forget the 25 or even the 100 best kids in the country. Leave it to the recruiting services to figure that out. What about a kid who simply wants a chance to play college basketball and knows that traveling team ball in the summer is his ticket?

That same kid who plays for a small high school team in the middle of nowhere, during July, has the chance to latch on with a traveling team and play for his scholarship. Whether he plays for a shoe-sponsored traveling team or one that does a raffle to pay for their flights, the point is he's playing in front of decision-makers and it's his chance for his one shining moment.

College basketball recruiting is a cesspool. I'm all over legislation that helps to clean it up. I'm all about getting the sleaze out of amateur basketball and the respectability back in.

But eliminating the July recruiting period isn't the answer.

It does more harm than good.