Basketball SCHOLARSHIPS
College basketball
The USA is often a desired destination for promising Australian ballers looking to further their basketball careers and get a quality education. From NCAA Division I to NAIA to Junior College, there are more than 3,000 colleges with basketball programs that could provide an opportunity at the next level.
Being Australians, we are immediately at a disadvantage because of our distance from US coaches and scouts. AUSA Hoops was born after we ourselves had gone through the process and learnt of the difficulties and barriers, which made us want to build better pathway opportunities to play in the States. From our experience, the best way to convince coaches and scouts of your ability is to play AAU Basketball. By playing against Americans in America, you have the opportunity to prove yourself and can remove the doubt and risk that coaches or scouts may have.
However, recruiting doesn’t start or end with AAU. With so many colleges, not every coach is going to be able to see you play. It takes hard work on your part to get on their radar. Building a list of potential and realistic schools for your level, creating an online profile, compiling a highlight video and contacting coaches directly, are all important in combination with playing AAU Basketball and is going to increase your chances of getting a scholarship significantly.
How many teams and scholarships are available?
College basketball scholarships are offered at the NCAA Division 1, NCAA Division 2, NJCAA, and NAIA levels. NCAA Division 3 does not offer athletic scholarships but offers other forms of financial aid. The number of scholarships available is based on a fully-funded program. Not all schools offer the maximum number of scholarships. Also, some schools have restrictions on scholarship use for out-of-state and international athletes.
NCAA D1 scholarships are all full-ride. In all other divisions, basketball is an equivalency sport, which means that coaches can divide the value of the total scholarships allotted to them between as many players as they see fit.
NCAA Basketball Recruiting Rules & Calendar
AUSA Hoops tours are planned around the NCAA live and evaluation periods. These small windows are determined by the NCAA recruiting calendar where college coaches hit the road to scout players at AAU tournaments. A foreign concept to us in Australia, but there are only particular times and periods throughout the year in which a coach can talk to potential recruits. These rules only apply to D1 and D2 colleges.
D3, NAIA and JC are permitted to contact players at any time during high school. Most contact for all levels occurs during a players Junior (Year 11) & Senior (Year 12) years. As Australian’s, we need to be aware that coaches are researching and putting together their lists long before these periods and it’s important for us to do our best to get on their radar as early as possible. This means being proactive in building a realistic list of schools, putting together your highlight video, and reaching out to college coaches as soon as you’re feeling ready.
How does recruiting work?
From a coach’s perspective, here’s a quick overview of how they find student-athletes:
Identify potential recruits. At any point in high school, coaches can send general materials, such as recruiting questionnaires, to student-athletes, and they usually send them out to a large number of freshmen and sophomores to gauge their interest in the program. Respond promptly to these materials. To get on their radar, consider using Twitter, Email, AAU Tours
In-depth evaluations. At this point, coaches focus on ranking their prospects and narrowing down their list. This is the stage where most families think the recruiting process begins. However, athletes who’ve made it this far have already passed an initial evaluation and shown some interest in the school. Tournaments, camps and highlight film are the most common ways coaches evaluate basketball prospects.
Verbal offers and visits. After coaches have their list of ranked prospects, they extend offers and lock down verbal commitments. Many recruits who are being seriously recruited will partake in unofficial and official visits during their junior and senior years.