Coaches embracing chance to evaluate prospects in-person after long dead period

PHOENIX — For college basketball coaches all over the West, it isn’t just that two weekends of Section 7 events are bringing over 200 of the region’s top high school programs together.

It’s that any of them are there at all.

Anybody, in person. Not a live stream or video highlight.

Just actual live basketball.

“It feels like spring after a hard winter,” Cal coach Mark Fox said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we all feel like we’re behind because there’s nothing like in-person evaluation but this has been wonderful, just to actually see guys in person, to see a mass number of guys.”

Fourteen-plus months of COVID-19-induced dead periods, finally, are over. Coaches were allowed to resume in-person recruiting on June 1 and they have been allowed to start evaluating high school events in person over the last two weekends of June.

Now coaches are sitting courtside, some last weekend at State Farm Stadium for the Section 7 team camp and some this weekend at Phoenix Brophy Prep, for the Section 7 finals.

They’re not sitting in front of a computer screen.

“It’s almost surreal to be to be back here, you know,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said at State Farm Stadium last weekend. “It’s almost like `Was it just a bad movie? Were we all just sleeping?’ ”

Working off video and the memory of in-person evaluations from previous years worked well enough to finish up recruiting the class of 2021, which had already been pretty thoroughly examined before the pandemic shut down things in March 2020.

But the lack of in-person evaluation has meant some coaches have been anxious to get out and watch the high school classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 this month.

Players are anxious, too. In the type of comment that has been common at Section 7, UA target Aaron Powell of Los Angeles Campbell Hall said he had been “waiting for this moment,” and Colorado coach Tad Boyle sympathized.

“I’m happy for the kids because they’re the ones that have been kind of cooped up, and there’s a lot of these kids from certain states that haven’t had a chance to play organized basketball very much,” Boyle said. “And especially with the senior class, a lot of coaches haven’t seen them since they were sophomores.”

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There are also some late-blooming guys coaches may not have seen at all, those not on the five-star radar, without videos and hype to keep their names afloat during the pandemic.

“I think it probably a little bit depends on the level you’re recruiting at,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “When you’re not seeing kids, it’s hard to find that hidden gem. A lot of times, the better players are easily and highly publicized so you’ll learn more about them quicker but this is a great opportunity for some of the lesser-known kids.

“And then it allows you to see some of the better known kids to see if there’s some substance behind the hype.”

While the race to catch up might be intense this summer, they’re all starting from the same place.

“You only get behind when other people are doing things you can’t do,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “All of us were off the road. It feels good to have everybody out here but you don’t feel like you’ve lost any kind of competitive advantage for having sat a year.

“We’re all starting to ramp up recruiting, seeing some of these kids for the first time.”

Actually, it could be better than ever for coaches. Not only is in-person recruiting back, but the virtual recruiting tactics that became necessary during COVID-19 might stick as permanent supplemental strategies.

“I think that will happen for sure,” said Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar, who was UA’s associate head coach in 2017-18. “Kids who aren’t local, when you want to show them your facilities — there were videos before but now they can interact with you, with Zoom. The streaming has been very helpful. Tournaments you can’t get to, you can still watch. So I think that’s here to stay.”

Still, there’s no argument that live is better.

When it’s available.

“If your staff is doing their job and you’re doing your job, you know names and you’ve seen film,” Boyle said. “But you haven’t seen them in person for a year and a half, so it’s good to see guys have gotten bigger and stronger or grown a couple inches and improved.”

Rim shots

Seattle-area guard Ben Ackerley tweeted that he has committed to Arizona to play next season as a walk-on. The 6-foot Ackerley averaged 34.7 points and 11.0 rebounds over three games for Eastside Prep last season. The Wildcats now have five walk-ons and 11 scholarship players on their 2021-22 roster.