The new Student Basketball Congress is not asking for much: Just a small piece of the $6 billion NCAA Tournament pie.
“The NCAA makes so much money off us and we never see any of it,” notes Kansas University junior Jeff Carey, a member of the 40-person SBC a group of college men’s basketball players that reports its concerns to the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
“We are asking the NCAA to be fair and fly our parents to NCAA and conference tournament games. A majority of parents can’t afford to fly across the country and stay in a hotel. They can’t afford to leave work. “I don’t think we’re being greedy at all in asking for that. I mean $6 billion off one tournament is ridiculous,” Carey added.
The SBC has not asked the NABC to ask the NCAA for a monthly stipend. The players do not want to be paid, but they would like to be able to earn a salary in the summer by running their own basketball clinics.
It’s believed the NCAA will pass a rule allowing the college players to instruct up to three players in camp settings.
The SBC would like that number upped to 30. In effect, the players could make a good chunk of change running summer camps.
“If you have two kids … it’s actually easier to work with many more than that when you are teaching basketball,” Carey said. “Why limit yourself to two? Coaches can have their own camps and use their name and profit. Why shouldn’t we be able to run our own clinic or camp in the summer?”
The SBC tackled the much-publicized issue of summertime recruiting at a meeting Sept. 9-10 in Dallas. The evaluation period will dip from 24 days to 14 in July 2001.
The summer period will be eliminated entirely in 2002 unless a new plan can be passed and put in place a plan that would eliminate unsavory influences in recruiting.
The SBC is calling for a 21-day evaluation period. One week in July would be for pure evaluation at prep camps with no contact between college coach and recruit. The second week would allow incidental contact short conversations called “bumps” at the camps. The third week would be for pure evaluation with no contact.
“I personally am in favor of 24 days,” Carey said. “Being from a small town (Camdenton, Mo.), I didn’t have the opportunity to go to a lot of summer camps when I was in high school.
“If you cut the period coaches can get out and recruit, that means the number of camps will decrease. Why go to a camp if coaches will not be there? The NCAA has talked about NCAA-sanctioned camps. I personally thought that was a horrible idea. Then smaller camps would be eliminated. The biggest camp I went to was a small review in Kansas City. If there were only NCAA camps, I probably would not have been invited to those. I tried to be a spokesperson for kids from the smaller high schools.”
The SBC, which is led by Duke senior Shane Battier, will continue to meet via conference call and ideally have an impact on future NCAA legislation.
Carey is joined by two other Big 12 players Nebraska’s Cary Cochran and Oklahoma’s Hollis Price on the panel.
The 40 players were chosen by NABC board members, a group that includes KU coach Roy Williams and Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson, plus conference commissioners.
“The game is based on us, but never before have we had a say in how we think things should be run,” Carey said, pleased the players now have somewhat of a say.
“We report to the NABC. Mr. Haney (Jim, director NABC) has stressed many times we are not just there to back up their opinions.
“We are there to give information. The players in Dallas were not just saying what they thought their coaches wanted said.
“We have our own opinions. We say what we feel.
“I think this council will make some impact on the way the NCAA makes its rules. That’s our hope anyway. I feel good about it as long as we accomplish something,” Carey concluded.
