Tyler Boston landed several strikes on him. For one thing, he’s a 5-foot-10 high school junior, not a size college recruiters would easily recognize. As another example, college basketball coaches can be picky with their high school players. That’s because the transfer portal is full of older players eligible for the extra pandemic year.
Moreover, when Boston attends high-profile recruiting showcases in Atlanta and Las Vegas next month, he will be able to highlight the breadth of his skills to college coaches as he will be competing for playing time on a talented travel team. It is unclear whether there will be. .
Fortunately for Boston, he spent the past two weekends with his high school team, the Bullis of Potomac, Md., in the basketball hotbed of the DMV (abbreviated for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia).
The DMV Live event was one of approximately 50 NCAA-sanctioned events across the country where college coaches can evaluate players directly with their high school teams. Events ranged from June Jam in Appleton, Wisconsin, to a huge Section 7 tournament in Arizona that featured 12 courts in a domed NFL stadium, to the New York City Public Schools Athletic League Showcase in Brooklyn.
Over the past two weekends, Boston has displayed team control, made 3-pointers (making half of its 26 attempts), and a purposeful defense. Just a week ago he didn’t have a scholarship offer, but now his phone is buzzing.
Holy Cross offered me a scholarship. East Tennessee State, Fordham and Fairfield are next.
A week later, the University of Pennsylvania told him they had a spot available. Robert Morris, Merrimack, Delaware State and Mount St. So was Mary’s.
“When they call, it’s good news,” said Boston, who has commuted 50 minutes to school from his home in suburban Baltimore since the ninth grade with hopes of playing in college. “I was interested in the past, but there were no offers. It means that the hard work pays off. “I spent a lot of time at the gym, and I’m thankful that what I promised came true,” he said.
Events like DMV Live, open to high school teams during in-person recruiting periods, are one of the few lasting byproducts of NCAA reforms promised after the FBI’s corruption investigation that rocked the college basketball world nearly six years ago.
The committee, led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calls for creating a new process for NCAA investigations, stiffer penalties for coaches who break the rules, a postseason ban of up to five years, and allowing the NBA to allow players to advance directly from high school to the professional league. If we continue to prohibit doing so, college freshmen will not be eligible. Only a few ideas were implemented, and even fewer of them survived.
A reminder of how things were going last week: The NCAA suspended McNeese State coach Will Wade, who was fired from Louisiana State last year, for 10 games and banned him from off-campus recruiting for two years. The investigation continued for four years.
Wade’s punishment did not include the “strong offer” he made to one recruit and his intention to pay players at Louisiana State University more than the NBA rookie minimum salary. The claim was captured in a wiretap call first reported by Yahoo. It will then air on HBO. The committee that reviewed the case said more evidence was needed.
Justice for corruption scandals has been almost exclusively in the hands of black coaches, who, unlike the white coaches involved, have been promptly fired, sometimes imprisoned, and kept out of college basketball.
What the FBI wiretaps and hidden cameras did was expose the underground economy of college basketball, fueled by money from shoe companies and agents and choreographed with the help of handlers who guided players to schools. These brokers are often affiliated with travel teams sponsored by shoe companies, and over the past 25 years they have largely replaced high school coaches in their role as gatekeepers for recruiting.
In 2019, the NCAA restructured its recruiting schedule in an attempt at reform, trying to regain leverage from Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. The 12-day recruiting period was shortened to six days in July, when shoe companies held national tournaments. The remaining six days were given to high school teams in June, and an NCAA-run camp was added to the recruiting period in late July. (Reconstructed NCAA camps are scheduled to resume this summer with camps for girls after a three-year pandemic-related hiatus.)
Grumbles about the changes from college coaches, who had grumbled about the lack of talent and lack of organization in some tournaments, were met with acceptance. At least at events like DMV Live, which charges college coaches $250 for a packet containing a player’s email address and information. phone number.
It has the advantage of seeing players in a more structured environment than a typical grassroots game, which is likely to place greater emphasis on their individual skills.
The tournament was held in two gymnasiums at DeMatha Catholic High School, which has produced numerous NBA players including Adrian Dantley, Victor Oladipo and Jordan Hawkins, who was selected 14th overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in last week’s draft.
On Saturday, Dan Hurley, the University of Connecticut coach at Hawkins, was in DeMatha looking for the next generation of talent to help his team, currently national champions, compete for another title.
“The more evaluation tools we have, the more different evaluations we can make on players across different teams, different styles of play, different types of coaches,” Hurley said.
Hurley had many colleagues. The main gym featured Kansas State’s Jerome Tang, Virginia Tech’s Mike Young, Providence’s Kim English and Notre Dame’s Micah Shrewsberry, whose visits took place between Friday’s trip to Wisconsin and Sunday’s trip to North Carolina. Also in attendance were assistants and mid-majors from Villanova, Virginia, Iowa, Indiana, North Carolina State and dozens of coaches from nearly every Ivy League school.
The NCAA’s hand can be seen in the length of events required to prevent coaches from having contact with players. Yellow police tape keeps college coaches away from players and their families. The coach has a separate bathroom and entrance to the gym.
That separation led some coaches to call their ears and wave to players or parents across the gym to let them know they were watching.
Although it’s questionable how much influence grassroots coaches have had, several high school coaches said the high school showcase has led to greater involvement among high school and college coaches.
“College coaches get to know the kids better because they talk to the high school coaches more.” St. Petersburg, Charlottesville, Virginia. St. Anne’s-Belfield School coach Damin Altizer said. The team’s whirlwind movement, dedicated passing, and sharpshooting brought Golden State Warriors basketball to its prime.
“How are the kids who come to practice after a long day of classes?” He continued. “Obviously, AAU is very valuable because it’s getting this great exposure. But high school coaches see them as more human beings. I cannot stress enough how valuable it is. Because that’s how they’re going to be successful when they get to college.”
The biggest attraction for college coaches in DeMatha last weekend was a four-game schedule featuring Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia. The school has the top four players in the state. Patrick Ngongba II, a 6-foot-11 center, according to recruiting site 247 Sports.
Paul VI won four games last weekend, three by blowouts, but won 58-53 on Saturday after getting a test from Bullis. In that game, Bullis point guard Boston more than held his own. He had 16 points and six assists (both game highs) and turned the ball over just once. As one of the smallest players on the court, his decisive play seemed to carry his team like the pros he most admired: Jalen Brunson, Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry.
If Boston opens the eyes of some college coaches, maybe they’ll ask more questions. They might find out that his father is a middle school math teacher, his mother works for the federal government, his GPA is 3.7, and he plans to study finance or accounting.
It’s the kind of background that, under the right circumstances, could make him stand out from the crowd.
