Trying to wrap my brain around what's wrong with these "basketball factories". I have plenty of friends who went to a technical college to learn to weld, work on cars, or become electricians. Whats wrong with the "trade" these guys are choosing being basketball? Consider that a lot of these kids are ultra talented, and have a legit shot at playing professionally. As long as they're getting their general education stuff out of the way, why does it matter if they're at a school to focus on basketball? Sure, they may not reach that goal, but then again kids every day don't reach their goals for a career they've trained for. Sure, I'm playing a little bit of a devil's advocate - but I think there's some merit to this.
Here's the thing - There's a new model for basketball development, and it doesn't require academics. It's the European sportsclub system, where big time sports are played in clubs, not schools. The suits don't know how to deal with this. This memo from the coaches association warns:
"Coaches,
"There appears to be growing confusion amongst our members coaches on the legality on evaluating the practices or other activities (i.e. open gyms) at some of the prep schools across the country. .."
These are not schools.
The NCAA offers the following:
"A team that is affiliated with a scholastic institution, but not subject to the rules and regulations of a scholastic governing body would be considered a nonscholastic team for purposes of applying the evaluation legislation set forth in Bylaw 13.1.7.8.1-(a).
OK, now what?