flamehunter wrote:lynchburgwildcats wrote:Calipari, the best recruiter in college basketball,
recruiting is one of the shadiest businesses in the universe. Just a tad less shady than drug dealing and prostitution in some instances.
That about sums it up.
I won't go into that assertion despite it's factual inaccuracy, but basketball recruiting is the shadiest of them all, moreso than football, because of the shoe companies, AAU, and hiring AAU coaches to get players. It's gotten to the point with some of the elite players where they are just as influenced by what shoe company each school is sponsored by.
Some recruiting experts even say UCLA was in the lead the entire time for Shabazz Muhammad because UCLA is an Adidas school. In the case of the Harrison's, Harrison, Sr. even said the only people that can call the twins directly are Calipari, Turgeon, and an Under Armour rep.
These shoe companies get involved with the corrupt AAU system and try to wrangle these guys loyal to their brand as young as they possibly can so they can make payday on them when they potentially make the NBA.
Thankfully the NCAA is starting to crack down on AAU some. Unless I am remembering wrong, I do believe that a school can't hire an AAU coach if he has coached any of the players on the team or any of the players they are recruiting. So at least that helps crackdown on the tactic of just hiring a kids AAU coach to get the player then kicking the coach to the curb when said player leaves.