Coaches Don't Much Care for NABC Request

I've been meaning to post about this one for a while. All manner of college coaches seemed to agree it was the right thing to do when the National Association of Basketball Coaches suggested it was time to curtail recruiting middle schoolers. The NABC asked - it lacks any power to make or enforce rules - coaches to refrain from offering a scholarship to any player until after his sophomore year of high school.

So how do coaches from the Southeastern Conference feel about this?

Suffice to say, most of them won't be paying much attention to the request.

"I'm a company man, but I'm not going to get beat up as far as competing," Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie said. "You always want to try to do what a coaches' organization which I have a lot of respect for asks you to do. But I'm not going to be sitting by the wayside while other people are getting ahead of you as far as competition is concerned."

After a pause, Gillispie added, "Interpret that however you need to."