Close one stinky AAU hole and another opens up...

[AdaSooner]

Doug Gottlieb's editorial "College hoops chatter from around the country" contains an interesting tidbit on the continuation of dirt associated with the AAU. He is pointing to a loophole some schools are using now to grease the palms of AAU coaches, after the NCAA put a halt to paying them to speak at BB camps.

What will it take to end this madness, a complete demolition of the AAU program? That would be a shame, because they're not all guilty of taking money under the table or through legal but questionable means to deliver key players. Thoughts?

• Last year the "gray area" controversy in recruiting was AAU coaches getting paid big money to speak at camps. The NCAA disallowed that, so now some schools are just paying the AAU coaches to show up as counselors at their camps. I'm told the counselors are making up to $3,000, and many times their best players just happen to also attend these camps. In my opinion, this amounts to a paid, unofficial visit for the potential recruit. It is totally legal and several teams are doing it, but expect the NCAA to once again try to navigate the muddy AAU waters next year about this very subject.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4258974&name=ncbexperts

 

[SoonerNorm]

I don't see much wrong with them speaking, per se, but they do need to put a cap on how much they can make at a speaking engagement, clinics, working at camps, etc so that all schools are on equal footing. If not, there could be a bidding war for their services. I also don't think they should be allowed to bring players with them when they show up.