AAU IS QUIETLY UNDER ATTACK PT. 7 - ALL-MET ELITE

AAU IS QUIETLY UNDER ATTACK

 PT. 7

 

Excerpts below are sourced directly from the PAC-12 Men's Basketball Task Force Report & Recommendations March 2018.

The Task Force was conceived as a group of people with varied but deep experience in the world of college basketball, capable of producing practical and actionable recommendations that would inform the parallel effort being undertaken at the NCAA level under former Secretary of State (and former Stanford University Provost) Condoleezza Rice, while at the same time providing a basis for the Conference’s research, input, and potentially independent action.

 

Starting in October 2017, the Task Force met several times in person, by phone, and in smaller committees. In addition, individual members of the Task Force and the Conference staff conferred with a variety of individuals who are involved in college, professional, and youth basketball in a variety of roles, including coaches, sponsors, agents, and athletes, as well as several university presidents. The Task Force also maintained lines of communication with the commission established by the NCAA, chaired by former Secretary of State (and former Stanford Provost) Condoleezza Rice, to examine the same issues.

 

To an extent, the development of the current youth basketball environment, in which club teams and summer camps have come to rival if not displace high school sports, reflects a trend in youth sports that is hardly limited to basketball. Travel teams proliferate in sports ranging from soccer to baseball to lacrosse, and increasingly in “7-on-7” football. And the criticisms that are mounted against it in basketball are heard in these other non-scholastic sports programs as well: The length of season, number of games, number of practices, travel time, etc., are unrestrained by the limitations traditionally associated with school-sponsored sports. Academics are underemphasized.

 

The demands of travel intrude upon time for academics as well as family life and other pursuits. The majority of coaches are not teachers or school employees, are untethered by the same administrative or ethical constraints, and are in some cases chasing shoe deals or coaching jobs at higher levels. The youngster is often said to be playing largely for him (or her) self rather than to represent a school or some other institution. The experience is said to generate selfishness and a sense of entitlement among players and, not infrequently their parents. To be fair, there are also many youth players who are intensely loyal to their club programs. Youth players are, in some cases, receiving sub-standard basketball skill development.

While participation in travel teams and tournaments is viewed as indispensable to obtaining a college scholarship and perhaps a shot at the NBA, many say that, due to the nearly exclusive focus on 5-on-5 full court games at the expense of skill development, it encourages a selfish style of play that robs players of learning the fundamentals of the game, leads to a selfish focus on playing time and transferring from team to team, and creates a sense of entitlement that renders players emotionally ill-equipped to deal with life on either a professional or college team.

Questions have also been raised about the backgrounds and qualifications of non-scholastic league coaches, particularly when compared with high school coaches who may also be teachers (though this is less frequently the case in recent years) and who, ideally at least, have the educational growth of their players as an important part of their objectives: And some suggest that the quality of coaching in elite AAU programs exceeds that of the average high school. In the competition for players, the relationship between AAU and high school coaches has often become acrimonious, with each side airing complaints against the other that do not always stand up to scrutiny.

 

 

PAC-12 Task force Men's proposed recommendations: It is our view that the current structure, by excessively limiting coaching contacts and elevating the importance of summer tournaments, has increased the power and influence of third parties, such as grassroots club coaches and other intermediaries. We recommend rethinking this model with the goal of reducing the influence of those intermediaries (and the potential they pose for abuse and NCAA eligibility violations), with the underlying premise that earlier visits to high schools, earlier official visits to campus, and controlled summer workouts and education via the “event” model would reduce the influence of intermediaries.

 

In considering what a revised model might look like, we must recognize which variables are within the NCAA’s control and which are not. The recruiting calendar for college coaches, certification of noninstitutional organized events, and rules governing on and off-campus recruitment of PSAs (including the regulation of campus visits and who pays for them), are within the NCAA’s control. The activities of shoe and apparel companies, youth leagues (and their coaches), and non-scholastic event administrators are not. However, the activities of those other organizations can be influenced by whatever framework the NCAA adopts, because the goal of the PSA participants is, to a great extent, to obtain a college scholarship.

 

The NCAA should organize, possibly with USA Basketball and other appropriate organizations, regional summer events in July that incorporate important basketball skill development, live games and educational components, as well as an opportunity for the young athlete to obtain an objective opinion regarding his potential as a professional or as a scholarship student-athlete. Invitations to these events would be issued to individuals rather than travel teams.

 

Modify the NCAA recruiting calendar to limit college coach recruitment in July to these NCAA events, thus prohibiting coaches to recruit at other non-scholastic summer events.

 

We believe these events would offer the following benefits: The events could provide useful skills development, with individual drills, three-on-three games, and limited 5-on-5 competition, differentiating it from the current, prevailing youth tournament model.

 

The Task Force’s concerns about the negative aspects of the current summer non-scholastic recruitment season apply equally to the April non-scholastic recruiting period. For that reason, we believe that recruitment at the April non-scholastic events should be prohibited provided a suitable replacement, analogous to the proposed summer events, can be created.