UConn hosts Division I hopefuls

UConn is hosting 275 high school players — from across the Northeast and as far south as North Carolina — this week at the inaugural NCAA College Basketball Academy, a showcase for Division I hopefuls.

STORRS — UConn is hosting 275 high school players — from across the Northeast and as far south as North Carolina — this week at the inaugural NCAA College Basketball Academy.

One of four sites hosting the showcase for Division I hopefuls, UConn’s Gampel Pavilion, Guyer Gymnasium and Werth Family Center held drills, scrimmages and life skill programs on Tuesday, and will continue through Friday with a second session starting on Thursday.

Grand Canyon, Illinois and Houston will also host an academy this week, with roughly 1,200 players spread out throughout the four sites.

DanGavitt, senior vice president of basketball for the NCAA and former associate commissioner of the Big East, described the first year of the academies as a learning

process for the NCAA, though he added its committed to the academies long term, with multiple schools having already placed bids to host next year. With an average of 1,110 scholarship basketball players each year, Gavitt ideally sees each of them participating in the program in the future years.

The academy did face competition for exposure this week, with the Junior U.S. National Team (which consists of arguably the nation’s top 75 recruits) practicing in Colorado.

While designed as a chance to showcase recruits in front of Division I coaches, the academy serves as a development camp for high school players as well. Mornings are spent working on dribbling, passing and shooting drills with college coaches instructing, and others watching in the stands. Games are played later in the day, with seven-toeight player teams. Teams are named after prestigious college basketball programs, with “2004 UConn Huskies” being one of them.

“We engaged with the [National Association of Basketball Coaches] and really relied on them and their expertise as to how the format of these camp academies should run,” said Gavitt. “With what kind of drills, what kind of breakout sessions we should have.”

Gavitt said the academy followed the NBA and USA youth basketball guidelines that limit the amount of games played to two, as well as the hours players can participate in drills.

“It’s not just about dayto-day, week-to-week, but it’s how young players should play across the entire year, so as not to overplay and get overuse injuries,” he said.

Among the curriculum is Station 13, a longtime staple of the 53-year-old Five- Star Basketball Camp, which has a growing alumni list of NBA and Division I players. Station 13 is traditionally run by that day’s clinician, often a well-known coach or player. At the academy, players ran through shooting, passing and dribbling drills in Gampel Pavilion under the instruction of coaches Pete Gillen (former head coach at Virginia, Providence and Xavier) and Mitch Buonaguro (former head coach at Siena and Fairfield).

Additionally, a life skills program, helped put on by the NBA, was held for parents and chaperones. Eligibility, do’s and don’ts of social media and the recruiting path were discussed.

“Just to be engaged with prospects and their families at a young age, just to learn what this is all about,” Gavitt said. “And what it’s not. And to help them make informed decisions. If college basketball is what they want, here’s howyoubecomeeligible to play college basketball. If it’s not, that’s fine too. Here’s information for a different path.”

Tim Restall, a rising senior at Tolland High, was among the local high school players who attended the first session. He played on the team dubbed “2004 UConn Huskies,” and played alongside two other Connecticut natives (Wilton’s Ryan Biberon and New Haven’s Jahkai Pettaway) as well players from New Jersey, New York and Maryland.

“It’s really fun to meet all these guys,” Restall said. “I’d never get an opportunity to play with them.”

He says he hasn’t decided on a college yet, and will go “wherever life takes me,” he said, though getting to play alongside other Division I hopefuls in a high-intensity environment was a welcomed experience.

“It will help me with my exposure more, and it will hopefully help me get noticed by coaches,” he said. “It’s a really cool experience to stay on-campus at UConn and play at Gampel … which I probably wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.”

The NCAA revamped its Division I men’s basketball recruiting calendar in wake of the recent pay-forplay recruiting scandal tied to shoe companies that are heavily involved in the AAU circuits. It put these academies in place to build a stronger relationship with high school and prep school athletic programs. Some Connecticut high school coaches aren’t completely on board with the academy and its invitationonly exclusivity, and still aren’t pleased with the CIAC’s choice to not hold its own showcase for college coaches in June.

Windsor boys basketball coach Ken Smith pointed toward the lack of Connecticut players on the academy’s roster, with just 23 players among the 500plus player field from Connecticut spread across two sessions. Just six are from CIAC schools.

“The NCAA needs to make high school coaches better aware of what’s going on,” Smith said. “They’re doing a disservice to high schools. They should have left [the recruiting period] like it was. It was way better.”

Gavitt pointed out that the academy is exclusive for a reason. While he sees a chance for these academies to grow, and projects that as many as 2,400 players across the country could attend in the near future, he emphasized that this is strictly for Division I prospects only.

“This doesn’t achieve what some high school coaches want, but it’s not meant to achieve that, to be very candid,” Gavitt said. “It’s targeted for Division I men’s basketball players. This is one week — four day sessions. For the other 51 weeks of the year, there’s opportunities for high schools, through grassroots and AAU events, and all sorts of other things for everyone else to be evaluated and have an opportunity.

“This is not meant for them. This is meant for Division I college basketball players.”