Columnist Dean Juipe: Prep tourney has faults, but so what?

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, July 24, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

It's easy to have a skeptical perspective when it comes to these mammoth prep basketball tournaments, such as the Big Time that's running in Las Vegas this week.

I've been critical of them myself. "Meat markets," is a familiar refrain. "Beauty pageants," is another.

There's a shady side to them that's all but unavoidable. You always feel something clandestine is going on.

First off, it's a huge expense to bring 344 teams with more than 4,500 prep athletes to the city, as is the case with the Big Time, and you know the gate receipts won't begin to cover the travel and hotel layout. As a result, the tournament becomes an advertising and goodwill venture largely funded by specific apparel companies that are looking to make ties with the kids who are participating.

Go to any game and within the crowd you are bound to find any number of borderline, dubious characters working the players. Some merely shake as many hands as possible, making small talk along the way. Others pry for information -- "Where are you looking to play (in college)?" and "How are your grades?" rank foremost among them -- while charting the answers and pitching their own cause.

It's a way of making contact, and, for better or worse, the adults in the equation run the gamut from helpful to exploitative.

Then there are the coaches, legions of them, each wearing a shirt with his school's logo for quick and easy identification. All seem attentive while viewing a game and some give the impression that they thoroughly enjoy the activities and fellowship that are before them, while others act as if they begrudge the entire process.

But they don't dare not attend or send a representative, as seemingly every college in the country has at least one man working here this week.

And therein lies the plus side of the entire venture: You may be one of only 4,500, but you will be seen by people who can have a positive impact on your life. They come offering scholarships and advice, which are always in short supply.

Of course I'm aware of the other side of the argument, including the fact that some of the less scrupulous come offering under-the-table money and exotic promises. Coaches -- from both the collegiate and AAU ranks -- certainly can be self-serving and manipulative, and toss in the influence of the apparel reps and anything's possible.

There is also this unmistakable and irrefutable fact: If summer basketball tournaments were outlawed, as the NCAA would seemingly prefer, it wouldn't keep any college from fielding a team or filling its roster. But it might prevent a deserving player from furthering his career and/or being exposed to the college experience.

If nothing else, summer tournaments all but ensure that college teams are stocked with the best talent America has to offer. Nobody falls through the cracks any more, and that wasn't the case in the old days when summer tournaments were scarce or largely nonexistent.

On top of that, the games are entertaining and increasingly intense as the week progresses.

For the time being at least, that's good enough for me.