Discussion regarding Basketball Summer Initiative to continue

After receiving feedback from the membership regarding the Basketball Summer Initiative initial draft concept, the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Oversight Committees decided to continue reviewing the concept and do not anticipate proposing legislation for the 2023-24 governance cycle.

Both basketball oversight committees formed working groups, which included athletics administrators, faculty athletics representatives, coaches and student-athletes, to discuss the concept, which would permit limited competition in the summer.

Details of the initial draft concepts included:  

• Participation against a Division I opponent in up to two exhibition contests, two scrimmages or one tournament-style event (not to exceed two contests in length) during a summer in which a basketball team is not engaged in a foreign tour.
• The exhibitions/scrimmages could be open to the public.
• Contests could be played only in the second half (weeks five through eight) of a school's permissible eight weeks of required summer athletic activities. 
• Student-athletes could not miss class to participate in Basketball Summer Initiative contests, including associated activities such as travel, pregame shoot-arounds, etc.
• Teams could participate in contests within the U.S., a U.S. commonwealth or a U.S. territory.

Feedback from the survey, which went to all 32 Division I conferences, showed 69% of men's basketball student-athletes who participated strongly or somewhat supported summer competition. Sixty-three percent of the women's basketball student-athletes answering the survey strongly or somewhat supported the concept as well.

"This concept would enhance the summer experience for Division I basketball players," said Sion James, a men's basketball student-athlete at Tulane and a member of the Men's Basketball Summer Initiative Working Group. "We would receive another opportunity to gauge our development while experiencing the joy of low-pressure basketball. The game is becoming more unscripted, so the successful players are the ones who improve their feel for the game by playing in live action in addition to their one-on-zero workouts." 

Men's basketball coaches were split (around 47% supportive and 47% unsupportive) on this issue, while 59% of women's basketball coaches participating in the survey were not supportive of the concept.

Over 60% of the campus administrators for men's and women's basketball surveyed were not supportive of the concept, and more than 60% of faculty athletics representatives also did not support the concept. 

Part of the rationale for the continued review was the other significant issues/priorities currently under review by the Division I membership. 

"We appreciate the membership's time and openness to exploring concepts to continue to grow excitement in women's basketball, while also enhancing the skill development of our student-athletes," said Kathy Meehan, senior deputy athletics director at St. John's (New York) and chair of the Women's Basketball Summer Initiative Working Group. "We understand the challenges schools are navigating in the current landscape, and those should be prioritized at this time; however, we hope to restart this important dialogue in the near future."

One of the additional concepts for summer competition that the women's working group discussed was possible 3-on-3 competition, which is typically played with four players on a team with no on-court coaching.

The rationale included that it could assist with growing the presence of college basketball during the summer, help with skill development, offer a celebratory environment and assist with the pipeline to participate in future men's and women's Olympic and world championship competition, which took place during the Summer Games in Tokyo.

The Division I Men's and Women's Oversight Committees and the respective working groups will vet other summer playing opportunities at future meetings. Committee members plan to use a forward-looking perspective about how to best position college basketball for continued success in the ever-changing basketball ecosystem since an emphasis on summer competition currently exists at every level of the game.