July 18, 2003
In some ways it is the most unique month in college basketball: July. With two "live" periods in the month where coaches are permitted to evaluate prospective student-athletes, July becomes a whirlwind of planes, bleacher seats and automobiles.
For the second consecutive year the Villanova's men's basketball coaching staff will offer periodic updates from July's Journey at villanova.com. Please note that NCAA rules prohibit the coaches from commenting on any individual high school player or team.
Today's Traveler: Brett Gunning
Monday, July 14
North Augusta, S.C..
One thing about the summer is that there are some unusual settings for these basketball events.
Take this one for instance.
The Nike Peach Jam, one of the best AAU events of the summer, is held here, across the bridge from Augusta, Ga. We are, quite literally, staying on the doorstep of one of golf's shrines, Augusta National, home of the Masters. Yet for most of us it's just a place we drive past on the way to the gym.
My 6:00 a.m. flight gets me here by mid-morning. The facility here is beautiful. There are four full courts and some of the elite AAU teams in the country are in action. In fact, the air conditioning in the gym almost works too well. Look around and you will see college coaches wearing sweatshirts and long-sleeved shirts while watching the games. Given the fact that the temperature outside is roughly 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity - and that's just a slight exaggeration - that's saying something.
The games run pretty much from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. For most normal people, that might be a little too much basketball. Most hoops fans might be exhausted after watching three Big Monday games from start to finish. Yet people in this business, myself included, just can't get enough of it. I mentioned to one of my colleagues here that we must all have some kind of sickness.
But I'm not in any hurry to find a cure.
Tuesday, July 15
North Augusta, S.C.
This marks the eighth day in a row I have been on the road and I'm not due back to Villanova until this Friday. When we were waiting for our bags from the flight to Charlotte, N.C., an assistant coach at Drexel picked up my bag and handed it to me.
"What have you got in there?" he asked.
Ten straight days worth of clothes, basically. There is no easy way to pack light for this trip.
Flexibility is important at this time of year where your travel plans are concerned. Circumstances often dictate that you change plane tickets that may have been booked months in advance.
An example of that came here.
We came to Augusta with one of our goals being to watch a specific player in this environment. As it turned out in this player's first game here, he sprained his ankle. I called coach Wright and our staff had to determine if having him make this trip would still be the best use of our resources. With a limited amount of evaluation time this month, you have to weigh the options.
In the end it was decided that it was still worth having Jay make the trip, although we shortened the length of it. He will be here tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I will be paying close attention to events here.
Wednesday, July 16
North Augusta, S.C.
During a call back to Villanova I asked one of the more pertinent questions of July.
What day is today?
Wednesdays don't look all that different than Thursdays at this time of the year.
If there is occasionally confusion, there is also a lot of bonding. Our coaching colleagues at other schools are on the same circuit we are and in this relaxed atmosphere you really have a chance to get to know people in the business. I have spent a lot of time with some friends in the business, one of whom is Norm Roberts, an assistant at Kansas. When there is a break or after the final game of the day, you try to grab something to eat with friends like that and in many cases you wind up meeting coaches from other parts of the country you may not have met previously.
At one point there was a break and a bunch of us headed to get a workout in. One of those working out was Rick Barnes of Texas. We all got to talking and it was fascinating to hear about his experiences on the Longhorns run to the Final Four last March.
Actually, last week at the Nike camp the college coaches got to spend even more time together than we normally would have. At about 7:30 p.m. during an evening session, there was an announcement over the public address system informing us that a tornado had been spotted near Indianapolis. We were ushered into a hallway where we waited for an all-clear sign. Among those standing with us were Gary Williams (Maryland) and Buzz Peterson (Tennessee). Finally, Norm Roberts told us this wasn't that big a deal, that everything would be fine. Hearing that from a guy who works at Kansas made us all feel a little better.
Of course, if a killer tornado had touched down at Nike, my name would have been at the bottom of a casualty list with some pretty prominent names on it.
The good news is that I think I have a new twist for our next mail-out to prospective recruits: "Come to Villanova and put your tornado fears to rest."
Actually, things are going really well. This is our third year now and through the power of television some of the young players have gotten to learn about what we value at Villanova. Those kids who are great defenders or terrific rebounders usually feel a connection to our program and that's a good thing.
There is a four-day dead period that begins Friday. So that means the college coaches can pause to catch their breath.
As for me, well, I have a little retreat planned to.
I'm headed to Boston for the weekend. Ed Pinckney and I plan to check out the NBA summer league games taking place there. Instead of resting, I'll be back in a gym watching basketball.
I guess you'd have to call it a sickness.
I appreciate your checking in with the Villanova basketball staff on this chapter of the July Journey. Look for Part IV in our series on July 23 as we get back on to the recruiting trail after this short hiatus.
