The NCAA is eyeing 3 early fall weekends for evaluation periods

The NCAA, due to the novel coronavirus that is still impacting American life as we know it, is extending the dead period for recruiting. For football programs, this extension will erase all hope for summer visits.

The extension is now set through July 31, the NCAA announced on Wednesday. As for men’s basketball programs, it’ll be a bit more devastating. The extended period will delay the sport’s evaluation period.

“For men’s basketball, the decision to extend the dead period erases the evaluation period for coaches that would have taken place June 17-21, June 26-28, July 9-12 and July 21-26. Basketball programs would have been allowed to have prospects visit campus for all of June and most of July, with a dead period occurring July 6-8 and July 13-20,” ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren wrote.

According to 247 Sports, the evaluation is now being postponed, but there are dates on the horizon that the NCAA is reportedly working on. Those dates are August 6-9, September 4-6 and October 9-11, 247 Sports reported.

For a high-profile program like Lexington that feeds off players being able to understand the culture being built at Rupp Arena and throughout the campus, having these in-person visits and watching these workouts is very important.

That said, with the nation’s top recruiting class inbound this fall, there won’t be too much to worry about. However, like with Kentucky, many coaches will now be forced to base much of their evaluations off high school film until the association can hammer out a set date.

“The cancellation of the Evaluation Periods have proposed issues for college coaches in the recruiting department, forcing them to primarily evaluate off of high school film and Synergy from last summer. While the three Evaluation Period dates are in play, the NABC is bullish, if feasible, on at least two Evaluation Periods in the late summer and early Fall,” 247Sports’ Evan Daniels wrote.

It seems the goal is to still have the events. Cancellation, as Daniels noted, could stir up some problems, but those issues would likely hit other programs harder than Kentucky.