OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 6:05 p.m. ET July 19, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

On June 19, the National Association of Basketball Coaches board announced a resolution requesting its members refrain from offering scholarships to players who have not yet completed their sophomore seasons in high school.

Exactly two weeks later, Florida coach Billy Donovan accepted a commitment from in-state point guard Austin Rivers of Winter Park, son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who just completed the ninth grade.

And, don't worry, Donovan got that memo.

"I don't know if it really made a whole lot of sense," Donovan said. "Because one of the things they should be doing, at least from my perspective, is opening up the lines of communication more than closing them down."

Donovan can't speak specifically about the decision to offer a scholarship to Austin Rivers because it is against NCAA rules for coaches to comment on recruits. But he could offer that scholarship and accept Rivers' commitment because the NABC's declaration was, as they'd call it in Washington, a non-binding resolution.

And Donovan certainly can speak about the reasons a coach might want to recruit a player so young.

"I think for the NABC just to mandate when we can offer scholarships and when we can't -- what we need to be doing is (exploring) how can we open up the lines of communication more to get to know these kids better," he said.

"Whether the school offers at any age really comes down to the family and what the family thinks is in the best interest of the kid. I don't think anybody's forcing anybody to do anything.

"But I think in certain situations if there's a real close relationship ... you know the person and you know the family, the kid has an idea of what he wants to do, where he dreamed of going to school -- it's up to the parents to decide whether or not they want to accept a scholarship and end the recruiting process."

Florida accepted early age commitments in the past from such players as Nick Calathes and Brett Nelson. Both went on to start as freshmen for the Gators.

Donovan contends that building relationships with younger players should be viewed as a positive. Prospects who are connected to colleges can be shielded from less positive influences -- specifically, agents and runners -- and directed into the proper classes to gain academic eligibility to compete in college.

"Knowing where you're going to school, all of a sudden you can focus on what's important," Donovan said. "I'm going to focus on school, and I'm going to focus on getting better.

"There are a lot of kids coming into these camps now that are feeling a lot of pressure and stress. Who really wants me? Did I play well?

"This process, everybody thinks it's glamorous, it's great, it's terrific -- I don't know if it's that way. I think it would be great to have a college coach pick up the phone ... who says, 'Don't worry about it, go out there and do better tomorrow.' That's an encouraging thing."

Communication is key to Donovan.

The NABC's announcement was provoked by two elements: 1) a new recruiting trick in which college coaches work non-institutional camps for young players and use that opportunity to discover and entice the best talents to their schools; and 2) negative publicity generated after such programs as Southern California and Kentucky accepted commitments from eighth- and ninth-graders.

The first part of that is a compelling issue, certainly, but it's a lot less untoward than many recruiting practices that have become routine in college basketball -- most of which never are publicly addressed by the NABC.

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The second part, the publicity, is what really brought about the NABC's action. This is no surprise given that most of the really lousy developments in college sports over the past three decades have been driven by media commentary from people with loud voices but only a passing acquaintance with the subject matter.

That's one reason the summer evaluation period, which starts up again Tuesday after a six-day break, has become strictly about evaluation. Coaches can't talk to prospects during July, which can make it hard for them to determine whether the players have any interest in being recruited by a particular school -- or even whether the player's schedule of games might have changed.

College coaches have had many such rules forced upon them, all of which imply the coach is a negative force who must be controlled. Now, the coaches -- through the NABC -- have done it to themselves.

How twisted is that?

"Any time you cut down communication in any relationship," Donovan said, "generally the relationship goes awry."

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