Great Article on Recruiting by Dana O'Neil: Interviewed 20 Coaches

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I really enjoyed this ESPN article and I hope you do too. Here are some notable quotes from the article:

What is your least favorite part of Summer Recruiting?

"I'll tell you another problem -- 70 percent of the kids we're sitting here watching should be in summer school. They shouldn't be here (at AAU ball).''

How many of your peers do you trust?

This had some fascinating answers and I am not going to repost them all so go read the article, but here is one:

"How many? Five,'' one coach said. Five percent? "No, five total,'' he said. "And those five are my assistants.''

How many programs do you think are committing major violations? Secondary? And why does no one snitch?

Wow, this answer is scary!!!
"One of my players [who left early for the draft] was working out with another top-five draft pick,'' a coach said. "They got to talking and my kid said something about not having money or whatever on campus. The other kid said, 'My coach set up expense accounts all over town for me. Yours didn't?'''

Which league is the cleanest? The dirtiest?

'Congratulations, Jim Delany. Your league wins in a landslide. Of the 20 coaches surveyed, 11 said the Big Ten was the cleanest in the country. Three others cited the land where time stood still, also known as the scholarship-less Ivy League. (Although even the Ancient Eight earned one disparaging nod: "The Ivy League,'' one coach said before pausing to add, "I mean the Ivy League a couple of years ago, before all of that stuff at Harvard.")

But coaches cited the Big Ten's perceived willingness to police itself and rosters that "made sense," in which players traditionally come from the footprint of the schools they choose to attend.'

The Dirtiest...14 of 20 cited the SEC!!

What is the biggest problem facing college basketball?

Unanimous answer was agents and runners and this section is a must read. It lays out all the tricks these agents and runners use to get money into the hands of the kids and their families.


Check out the full article, it is an excellent read.