No more agents. No more compliance officers checking expenses with parents or friends to ensure they covered the travel, lodging and food.
No more headaches for underclassmen trying to explore the early-entry draft process.
That's the plan and the hope beginning in 2008 after the NCAA passed a new tryout rule at its meetings last month.
But this month coaches at conference meetings are discussing it and according to Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, the ACC coaches weren't in favor.
That's because the thinking is that more players will declare if they know they can have the expenses paid for a 48-hour period by an NBA team. And the kicker is that a player can have each NBA team, all 30 of them, pay for one workout.
Of course players can't get to all of the teams before making up their minds on whether to stay in the draft after the NBA changed the rule this season that shortened the workout window to June 6 (after the pre-draft camp in Orlando) to June 28 (the day of the draft) or June 18 (for those who will withdraw from the draft).
Currently, NBA teams cannot pay expenses for underclassmen who wish to hold onto their eligibility. The league office does pick up the tab for the pre-draft camp in Orlando (there was a brief time in Chicago when that wasn't the case).
The rule, 12.2.1.2, states that the 48-hour window starts when the player arrives at the NBA facility. If a tryout extends beyond 48 hours, then the individual must self-finance any additional return expenses. The rule states that a self-financed tryout can be for any length of time as long as the player doesn't miss class.
The interpretation of the rule, according to the NCAA, is to allow the players to gain a credible evaluation of their pro chances so they don't listen to outside influences with other motives.
The rules are also in line with players' pre-enrollment since the NBA does allow teams to pay for high school seniors to work out. The problem is that rule now outdated since the NBA changed its draft rule last year. High school seniors are no longer allowed to go directly to the NBA. They must be 19 years old and a year out of high school to apply.
Bottom line: this helps avoid agents paying for workouts or anyone else who isn't supposed to be funding travel. The examples of this happening are too many to count with a number of players over the years getting penalized for taking funds to pay for workouts. Most recently, former Kentucky center Randolph Morris was suspended for 14 games for a similar offense two seasons ago.
"Anyone who is going on flying trips for workouts is likely breaking the rules," said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon of underclassmen who have been known to zip around the country in a matter of days, allegedly on their own dime. "It would take away the stress if the NBA is paying for it."
This spring, there are a host of underclassmen like Virginia's Sean Singletary, Marquette's Dominic James, Washington's Spencer Hawes, Georgetown's Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert that could be in the situation of having to pay for team workouts to ensure their eligibility.
Final nuggets
" The ACC met again Tuesday morning in Amelia Island, Fla., where the topic of 18 league games was going to be discussed again. But the coaches weren't overly in favor of it, notably Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who was quoted in the Charlotte Observer to that effect. Last month, Maryland's Gary Williams said he thought the ACC would go to 18 for 2008 but that appears unlikely now. And according to one source in the television industry, if the ACC coaches aren't backing it, then TV isn't going to attempt to force it toward the athletic directors and presidents. If that's the case, then the ACC will remain with the SEC and Big 12 as the three BCS conferences that play 16 league games as opposed to 18. The Pac-10 plays 18 and the Big East and Big Ten are moving to 18 for the 2007-08 season.
" Boston College's pickup of Vermont transfer Joe Trapani will help shore up its class and gives the Eagles a solid, mid-range to 3-point line shooter in their flex offense. Trapani's 6-8 height impressed the Eagles' staff and sees his "upside" as quite high within their offense. Trapani chose BC over Michigan, Providence and Northeastern.
• The Big East will also meet this month in Florida, where the hot topic will once again be the Big East tournament limiting its field to 12 of the 16 teams. The proposal that could get some life (although commissioner Mike Tranghese has traditionally been opposed to going to 16) is for a Tuesday-Saturday format with teams 9-16 playing Tuesday. Then the four winners would play teams 5-8 on Wednesday, with those four winners playing teams 1-4 on Thursday. So the top four teams still play only three days; the next four teams would need four victories to win it and the last eight a possible five to win it.
• Virginia Tech apparently won't lose Malcolm Delaney, a 6-3 shooting guard from Towson Catholic High (Md.). His coach, Josh Pratt, told ESPN.com college basketball editor Kim Baxter that Delaney isn't wavering with the Hokies. Delaney, the Baltimore Sun player of the year, led Towson with 19.5 points a game. The Washington Post reported Monday that 6-9 Augustus Gilchrist (Fort Washington, Md.) didn't want to attend Virginia Tech because of the historical killings on the campus last month. Gilchrist hasn't been granted his release as of yet.
• The Mid-Continent Conference has been re-named the Summit League. The Mid-Con didn't really encompass where the schools were located, people didn't know what "Con" was short for and the negative connotation of the word "Con." The word Summit was chosen to show that the league wants to achieve greatness and has nothing to do with mountains. The 10-team league now consists of: Centenary, IPFW, UMKC, IUPUI, North Dakota State, Oakland, Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, Southern Utah and Western Illinois. Valparaiso is leaving for the Horizon League.
Andy Katz
