In the Big East, the number of prep school players has virtually tripled in the past eight years. They're being put into prep school by the summer. That wouldn't solve everything. Most academic abuses occur in the months before July and after August. Summer begins in earnest in April and there is a tournament virtually every weekend until the end of October.
Some events are local, but many entail travel by van or plane.
That can mean missed classes on Friday and no studying all weekend. But these kids are going from tournament to tournament to tournament. The potential for academic conflicts hit home for DeCesare in September 1999, when the Ravens and New York Gauchos both entered a tournament in Maryland. Julius Hodge, star of DeCesare's high school team, was going to play with the Gauchos one last time before joining the Ravens. So Julius doesn't come to school.