A Recruiting Clean-up?

If you love college basketball, you should know that tomorrow could be a very important day.

Frustrated by a recruiting process -- complete with package deals, scheming AAU coaches, and John Calipari -- shadier than the Corleone family business, the National Association of Basketball Coaches has contributed to a package of legislation that the NCAA Division I board of directors will consider on Thursday.

ESPN's Dana O'Neil has the full story, but she summarizes the package's four major aims:

• Eliminating so-called package deals, making it nearly impossible for a college program to hire any of the myriad of hangers-on associated with prospective student-athletes.

• Disallowing college coaches to subscribe to recruiting services run by people associated with prospects. This would curtail services offered by AAU programs (and others) that charge colleges to subscribe but sometimes offer little to no information on the prospect.

• Preventing payment to nonprofit organizations benefiting summer-club teams, prospects or people attached to prospects.

• Preventing coaches from hiring outsiders to work at their camps and clinics

The new legislation would also allow punishments for violations to follow coaches from job to job. (Sadly, it comes a year too late to nail Calipari.)

Given the contributions of the coaches, it is expected that the package will pass, but it is less clear how much of a difference they will make. Still, I'll be eagerly awaiting the results, and if you love college basketball, you probably will too.