NCAA proposal could change basketball recruiting game

Rod Barnes is no stranger to the living rooms of young athletes.

Through more than 20 years as a basketball coach -- eight as head coach at Ole Miss before his current three-year stint leading Georgia State -- he's talked to countless 15- and 16-year-old players, selling them on playing for him.

As of today, there are no restrictions on when he can extend a scholarship offer. But the NCAA is floating the idea of changing that dramatically.

Recently, the NCAA's Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet issued a proposal that would prohibit coaches in all sports from offering scholarships before July 1 between the recruit's junior and senior years of high school.

With an early signing period in November and the young phenom aspect of the game, basketball could be the most highly impacted of the high profile sports if the proposal passes a membership vote in January.

Few know that better than Barnes. He has coached at tiny Livingston College, won a Naismith national coach of the year award at Ole Miss and now operates in the mid-major world of Colonial Athletic Association. He has experienced the recruiting trail as both a player -- honorable mention All-America for Ole Miss in 1988 -- and as a coach at nearly every level.

"I think it's a possibility that it would change things simply because when guys commit at a younger age, a lot of coaches back off those kids," Barnes said. "If we're waiting until July in between that year, there may be a lot of money that's being spent to recruit kids that already know where they want to go."

One doesn't have to look outside the Atlanta area to find players who could have fit that mold. At the University of Georgia, rising junior guard Dustin Ware committed to the Bulldogs early in his junior year at North Cobb Christian and stuck by his commitment for two years. . Tennessee freshman Trae Golden committed to Ohio State when he was a sophomore at McEachern but eventually changed to the Vols.

Some early commitments, like Ware's, stick. Many others are like Golden, who don't end up where they first thought they would.

Right in the middle of this process is the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Its basketball teams and coaches are often connected to shoe companies like Nike and Reebok and they regularly act as intermediaries between a player and the schools that are interested in signing him or her to a scholarship.

Michael Stokes, coach of the AAU's 14-under Southern Kings, is familiar with the beginnings of the recruiting process and knows how very young athletes can be swayed by the allure of a big-time program.

He said he is "50-50″ on whether the NCAA's proposed rule would be a positive one for the players he coaches, but he can see one way the rule could help save schools from themselves.

"I don't think kids in ninth and 10th grade need to be recruited," Stokes said. "All the risk is based on the university, if they're signing kids at that age. I don't know one ninth- or 10th-grader who's committed early and has been successful."

For their part, some of Stokes' better players say college isn't foremost on their minds as they prepare set to start high school this fall. C.J. Turman, a 6-foot-6 center from Elberton, said he's not looking to dive into the recruiting game too quickly.

"I think I'd rather wait and think about it later on," said Turman, 15. "I'm too young to think about something like that. I've got to work hard and keep pushing myself. I need to improve my skills and post moves."

But it's often at Turman's age when coaches identify players and begin building relationships that could eventually lead to a scholarship offer.

But at a smaller program like Georgia State, Barnes warns that the proposed new rule could negate all that relationship-building every July 1.