Enough (Recruiting) is Enough

This is a plea. A desperate call for sanity. An end to the violence and bloodshed (metaphorically speaking). After much debate and negotiation, it is time to make this declaration: Basketball coaches have enough tools to recruit. Starting with the introduction of the Academic Progress Rate, coaches have been responsible for retaining the players they recruit. Despite that, the transfer rate for men’s basketball has risen steadily over the last decade, surpassing 10 percent of players annually according to the most recent numbers. Another study finds that 40 percent of scholarship basketball players transfer by the start of their junior year. There are countless reasons for a transfer: academics; homesickness; whispers from hangers-on; coaching changes; injury; etc. But one refrain from coaches, often backed up by recruiting analysts, is that coaches do not have enough time to properly evaluate players and build a relationship with them. The problem is that argument did not stand up ...