The Latest College Basketball Scam

Another way for people profit off the backs of young athletes

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 10:00 AM PDT, Mon, Jul 27, 2009

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Won't somebody think of the children?

Thanks to "The Simpsons", that's become a shorthand joke for people overreacting to something but every now and then it's a serious question. One such example is the recruiting scam de jour in college basketball.

Summer basketball tournaments are charging elevated fees to college coaches who want to go and see the players taking part in the games. Nominally the money is for the expenses of operating the tournaments, paying the coaches and so forth. Often, though, the money is going to support AAU teams, according to Pete Thamel of the New York Times. These teams are coached by men who tend to hold a lot of sway over the college choices of the players on their team.

If you don't pay the fees, which have risen sharply this summer, there's little chance that you're going to get the nod from a coach and little chance that you're going to land the player that you're trying to get. If you can even find the player, that is. The article also points out that the information packets that organizers use to justify charging the fees often leave out an important piece of information.

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While the packets usually cost hundreds of dollars, they rarely have pertinent information, like players’ jersey numbers.

"I refuse to pay $250 for a blank piece of paper," the Louisville assistant Steve Masiello said.

If the idea behind these tournaments is creating connections between coaches and players, wouldn't that be a pretty crucial piece of information?

That people are making money off the back of high school athletes is an old story, sadly, but it's still depressing to find out that the NCAA endorses this extortion. Coaches need the NCAA's okay to attend these tournaments, and they keep getting it despite the clear conflict of interest inherent in paying middlemen for access to players. So, by the NCAA's reckoning, it's okay for coaches to pay people to curry favor with athletes. If an athlete gets one dime, though, they become untouchable. That's fair.

Thamel gets pointed criticism of the system from Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, who walked out on a tournament when presented with a bill for $295, and Yale coach Joe Jones, but more prominent coaches wouldn't comment about the tournaments or payoffs. That's because it is more important to them to keep their relationships with the guys profiting from the status quo, then changing a system that offers big financial benefits to everyone but the players responsible for them.

That's something to keep in mind later this year when you see a coach being touted as a man of character interested in more than winning basketball games.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.