PHOENIX – The first-ever NCAA College Basketball Academy – the western version – wrapped up late Sunday morning at Grand Canyon University.
As the case with Session I, which ran Tuesday thru Thursday mornings, one of the dynamics of the assembled group of high school players (mostly in the Classes of 2020 and ’21, with a smattering from ’22) was the presence – and impressive efforts – of so many “non-west” kids.
By my official tabulation, there were 57 players with Florida listed as their home states among the approximately 300 athletes at the combined sessions.
As I wrote early Tuesday night, that’s because athletes were assigned to the west, South (University of Houston), Midwest (University of Illinois, in Champaign) or East (University of Connecticut, in Storrs) sites based upon the relative ease of the travel dynamics of getting there.
So, in regards to roughly 19 percent of the participants in the west being from Florida, I’ve got a hunch it was a lot of easier booking direct flights from the large Florida airports to Phoenix than it would have been, say, getting guys to Champaign or Storrs via a number of connecting flights and/or ground transportation.
Some of the west camp games played in Grand Canyon’s 7,000-seat arena but most of the games and other “on-court activities” held across campus at the new – and oh-so-spiffy – nine-court, Canyon Activity Center.
In unofficial polling I did among parents and high school coaches who were on hand at Grand Canyon, it was near-unanimous in their praise of the camp, especially in helping parents or guardians with their transportation.
For those wondering if this was a “one-time deal”, the NCAA officials I spoke with over the six days – notably, NCAA Vice President for Men’s Basketball Dan Gavitt – were firm in their stance that the organization is committed to these camps for the long haul.
And its certainly got the resources – financial (I’ve heard from $8 to $10 million was spent in the staffing, planning and execution for the camps) and otherwise – to put substantial thought and effort into fine-tuning every aspect of it for its next incarnation a year from now.
A common complaint I heard (from high school and “grassroots” coaches, and parents) was that many never heard – or understood – how players could get their names in the pool of athletes considered for invitation.
There wasn’t nearly the volume of the high-profile players in attendance at any of regional sites – notably, those already considered front-runners for 2020 McDonald’s All-American selection — than those putting the camps on, as well as college coaches and the media/scouts had hoped to see.
That pool of players dissipated because of (in random order), a USABB mini-camp – drawing close to 80 players – in Colorado Springs that attracted all head coaches from the “power conference programs”; a tournament in Las Vegas; and, to varying to degrees, reluctance of some high school coaches and club program directors to participant by encouraging their athletes to attend.
I imagine the organization – via social media or even public announcements, say, during college and high school basketball television broadcasts this winter and early spring – will do a much better job of getting “the word out” for 2020.
And, with a whole lot more time to sculpt a plan for identifying those players perceived to be among the better college prospects, in the Classes of 2021, ’22 and ’23, much earlier in the invitation process, it stands to reason that the turnout will be more robust – relative to said “high-profile players” – that it was in the initial effort.
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