Recruiting and evaluation periods a matter of perspective

This story, on ever-changing NCAA summer recruiting/evaluation regulations, ran last weekend as the recruiting season took full flight. UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, and others, are quoted as being dismayed by what they call a shrinking window of time to be able to see prospects:

Auriemma is troubled by the shrinking evaluation and recruiting calendar in women's basketball, even though he and other Bigfoot programs are the primary beneficiaries.

"Any time you limit how many times a coach can go out and see players play," Auriemma said, "you're eliminating the opportunities for the programs that are really trying to become successful and you're helping the programs that already are successful."......

"Every year, it looks like the windows get smaller — when coaches can come out, when they can't come out, who they can talk to, who they can't talk to," said Princess Anne High coach Darnell Dozier, who has coached one of the state's best Group AAA programs for the past 19 years and is an annual fixture at Boo's tournament.

"My feeling from when I first started to now is college coaches don't really get a good evaluation of most kids," Dozier said. "Back in the day, coaches could come out and see us two or three times a week, and tournaments like this weren't so big and rushed. You might see a kid 15 or 20 minutes this game and 10 minutes the next. It's just not a very good system right now."


The 2011-2012 recruiting calendar runs from June 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012:

(a) June 1-14, 2011: Quiet Period

(b) June 15 through August 1, 2011: Evaluation Period

(c) August 2 through September 6, 2011: Quiet Period

(d) September 7 through October 14, 2011: Contact Period

(e) October 15, 2011, to the date of the prospect’s initial high school or two-year college contest: Quiet Period

(f) November 7 (7 a.m.) - 9, 2011, (7 a.m.): Dead Period

(g) The period between the prospect’s initial and final high school or two-year college contests: Evaluation Period

(h) March 1 through May 14, 2012, [except for (1) below]: Contact Period

(1) April 9 (7 a.m.) - 11, 2012, (7 a.m.): Dead Period

(i) During the Saturday before the start of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship through Wednesday noon after the Championship game, [March 31 through April 4, 2012, (noon)]: Dead Period

(j) During four sanctioned Amateur Athletic Union women’s events occurring between May 18 and June 14 selected at the discretion of the institution and designated in writing in the office of the director of athletics: Evaluation Period

(k) During any high school all-star game that occurs within the state in which the member institution is located: Evaluation Period

(l) All other dates: Quiet Period

NCAA spokesman Christopher Radford said there have been no changes to this year's recruiting calendar.

"For background, after the Division I Board of Directors last fall adopted Leadership Council recommendations for a new recruiting model in men’s basketball, the Council focused its attentions on recruiting issues in women’s basketball," Radford said.

"A subcommittee featuring representatives from the WBCA, Women’s Basketball Issues Committee and the Council – is currently seeking feedback in several areas of potential change in recruiting. The group hopes to collect feedback through the summer, and the subcommittee will present the recommendations to the full Leadership Council in October."

I guess I would question why there were objections to aligning recruiting regulations in women's and men's basketball. It seems to me that everything should be uniform, and unilaterally enforced.