Recruiting Wars

Midnight Madness is just hours away folks! Yes, the time has come again for a brand new season, and the wheels of the recruiting engines continue to turn! Attending midnight madness is one of the big things in the world of recruiting, and Making the Dance has posted a list of where the top recruits are going to be visiting for Midnight Madness.

Don't forget the last of the major all-star games of the season is on TODAY! The Jordan Classic will tip off at 8pm eastern (5pm pacific) on Saturday April 18, 2009. The game will be broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York on ESPN2 and ESPN2-HD. In past years, they used to show a tape-delayed edit of the game, but a couple of years ago, thankfully, they switched to showing the game live on ESPN2.

You can check the 24-man rosters at the official Nike page. A number of players affected by the wild coaching carousel of this spring are listed in the rosters, including Xavier Henry, John Wall (who may even be considering a jump to the NBA Draft directly because he may qualify under the rules), and friends.

If you are not going to be near a TV, fear not, ESPN360.com is listing the live broadcast in their schedule, so you can watch it online.

Today is the beginning of the spring signing period, so there may be some hoopla and excitement, so players wanting to make a splash. Make a splash because there will be some specials on ESPNU. Unfortunately not many people have access to ESPNU, and as of a few minutes ago, we didn't notice any of the major ESPN channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN-News, ESPN-Classic) having any recruiting or signing-day programming in their schedule.

But if you don't have ESPNU, you may want to monitor or record ESPN-News, if they are any big news, they will likely feature them there. Hopefully.

We just checked the espn360.com schedule but unfortunately there is no plan to show any of the ESPNU signing day coverage. They do have repeats of the Rise National Invitational and the McDonalds All-star Game and Jamfest that you can watch if you missed them or want to (re)scout some of the players. Especially the "new free agents".

It's always a dramatic April 15, because it's not only the deadline for filing taxes, but it's also a new signing period for college hoops that usually lasts for a whole month.

And with the wild coaching carousel of the last couple of weeks, things have been re-arranged in the world of recruiting, not just for the 2010+ and beyond classes, but also for the 2009-2010 recruits, commits and non-commits alike. Not to mention potential transfers and jucos.

We believe ESPNU will have something, but ESPNU is not exactly easy to get on your cable box because of a childish dispute between ESPN and some cable companies like Comcast. The more silly things like that, the closer traditional cable TV gets to its end as more and more people will shift towards the internet with true pay-as-you-go plans. But that's a different story for a different blog :)

As far as know there's nothing planned for CSTV (CBS College Sports), which seems to have significantly cut its budget on studio-based productions. Their signature "One College Sports Show" has been gone for quite a while now.

But if we do notice any specials, we will certainly post a new blog update!

Don't forget to tune in or record the final of the Rise Invitational today on ESPN and ESPN-HD. The game will tip-off at 3pm eastern (12pm pacific). The girls game is underway on ESPN2 as we speak. In case that game goes to six overtimes, then obviously the men's games will start later than 3pm eastern.

This game is a great way to scout some of the upcoming great players in the world of college hoops, because, let's face it, the only two teams left with any interest in the 2008-2009 season are Michigan State and North Carolina.

With the Calipari to Kentucky news, and a possible wild ride in the coaching carousel, some of the committed or otherwise unavailable recruits playing in tonight's McDonalds All American Game may become available in the next few days! So, you never know, some of them may end up on your team!

The game will air live at 8pm eastern tonight on ESPN, and will repeat a few times on the ESPN family of networks. But start your VCR an hour earlier, they will air a one-hour highlights package from the dunk and three-point contests at 7pm eastern, also on ESPN!

Kentucky and Calipari were smart in their timing, because now everyone watching the McDonalds game will be hearing about Calipari. I wouldn't be surprised if he calls in during the game and is interviewed on the air :)

Dick Vitale is loud and obnoxious, but this time he was serious when he claimed that players should not be allowed to "follow" a coach if there is a coaching change before they arrive on campus.

This is BULLCRAP! The coaches are leaving the universities just like that because someone offers 2 million instead of 1 million, yet the players, according to Vitale, should not be free to follow the coach.

Well, here is a newsflash. When it comes to committing to colleges, with collegiate sports, it is more like graduate school. In Graduate School, students want to do research under a certain professor, that's why they pick a certain graduate school. Similarly, a basketball student-athlete is like a graduate student in terms of basketball, they are "learning" and doing "R&D" under the coach.

If the coach leaves, their "R&D" is not what they signed up for. They signed up to do "R&D" with the said coach. If anyone is to be held accountable, it is the coach for leaving.

Of course no one is going to do that, because coaches (and colleges) make the rules and everyone gives coaches the golden glove treatment.

So who is left to screw? Why, who else, the student-athletes!

Dick Vitale, you are an IDIOT!