The opportunity for rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to be seen by college coaches during the July 23-28 evaluation period is available — as long as student-athletes register by Sunday, May 5.
Yes, it’s that easy to at least have a chance to be in the pool of up to 2400 prospective student-athletes at the NCAA College Basketball Academy at one of four regional sites at UConn (Storrs, Conn), Illinois (Champaign, Ill.), Houston (Texas) and Grand Canyon (Phoenix, Ariz.).
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There will be two sessions at each regional site, with each session hosting up to 300 prospective student-athletes. The first session runs July 22-25 and the second July 25-28.
To be considered for the camp, student-athletes must register through the NCAA Eligibility Center by this Sunday, May 5. The prospective student-athlete must nominate himself, not a coach. Here is the link for prospective student-athletes to sign up: https://web3.ncaa.org/ecwr3/.
Once the registration period closes, each Division I school (head coach/staff) gets to vote for five players who would automatically be invited to camp. There might be duplicates, since schools often recruit a number of the same prospects. Once the prospects are put into the pool, the remaining spots will be filled by at-large candidates nominated by those same coaches as well as an advisory committee. All invitations will go out by May 31.
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Keep in mind that this is the only event Division I coaches can be at that week other than the USA Basketball junior national team mini-camp July 25-28 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Here are some things to know about the NCAA College Basketball Academy:
1. You must be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center to participate.
2. The NCAA will pay travel, lodging and meals for the prospective student-athlete and one parent or guardian or chaperone IF their state high school association rules allow it.
NCAA ELIGIBILITY CENTER: Nominate yourself for the NCAA College Basketball Academy
3. Prospects who live within 400 miles of their regional site will be required to drive but will be reimbursed for the mileage if their state high school association rules allows.
4. All prospects will stay in college dorms and eat meals on campus. There will be drills, games and life-skill sessions, much like the old-school camps that went on for decades prior to the blossoming of the latest game-centric summer tournaments. The accompanying parent, guardian or chaperone will stay at a local hotel room.
5. Coaches will receive the roster and prospect information electronically for free.
6. Coaches who are working the event will come from Division II, Division III and regional high school teams and former NBA players.
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7. If there is an imbalance of players for a particular region then there could be some cases where players are moved out of a region to balance the number of players at each camp.
8. The four regional camp sites are set for the summer of 2019. Bids are going out for the summer of 2020.
9. The NCAA basketball staff will oversee the Academy with help from the host institution staff.
So, the opportunity is here for prospects. There is no reason to be left out of this particular week. And coaches shouldn’t feel like one of the prospects they like isn't being seen during this weekend in July. Pass the link along for him to nominate himself and if you tag him as one of your five automatic players he will be there. If he is in the pool and doesn't make your first cut, at least he will have a chance as an at-large entrant. If you don’t want him seen by others, then that may not be in your control since the players who self nominate, and appear on at least one school list, can be in the camp.
