Women’s Basketball and D3 (particularly NESCAC)

What is typical timeline? Daughter has submitted for some prereads but it does not seem to be at the pace of some other sports and it is not the same pace of other schools for basketball recruiting - those going through it this year (or with prior experience) - what generally happens?

Timing can vary, all NESCACs work from the July 1 start to academic pre-read for rising seniors. But, because of vacations and the like, things can sometimes be slow. Some coaches are just slower than others too.

Generally, coaches send more athletes to academic pre-reads than the number of slots they have.

Your D should be directly asking each coach what their timeline is for making a decision. Sometimes if the timeline is relatively long it can be because she is not a top recruit at that given school. It is also appropriate for her to ask where she stands relative to this class of recruits.

It can take time for the funnel to work its way down to the non-top recruits.

Sometimes coach changes are an issue too…my D who played her sport at a NESCAC wasn’t offered a spot at her top choice until end of October, because the coach didn’t start their job until August. In the meantime, she turned down a NESCAC offer in August, without another offer in hand.

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thanks - specifically asking about basketball though because it does seem to be a little different than other sports - do you have direct experience/exposure to basketball?

I don’t have experience with basketball, but do not understand why it would be any different to any other sport, particularly wrt the NESCACs. Would be happy to be educated, OP.

Yes. I haven’t seen it to be different in the NESCACs (or Ivies for that matter.)

What are you seeing that may be different?

nescac and ivy basketball recruiting timing is actually night and day in terms of timing - and in terms of nescac - it does not seem like basketball is generally an offer July 1 type of sport - your child played basketball?

Your D should rely on what the coaches are telling her their specific timing is and where she stands in their recruiting class, nothing else really matters.

ETA: I did not say that July 1 is the day for offers in NESCAC. I said July 1 is the first day when coaches can formally submit player information (rising seniors) to admissions for an academic pre-read.

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@Mwfan1921 has a lot of experience with athletic recruiting, and with college admissions, fyi OP.

None of the NESCACs make all their offers on July 1. As @Mwfan1921 said, that’s the earliest Admissions can green light (or red light) a pre-read application. Some very top recruits do get offers on July 1, or within a few days, but most of the shuffling is going on right now and into early August. I have never heard that basketball somehow has a different timeline (why would it? It doesn’t make sense).

Best to rely on what the coaches are saying. Good luck. This is the most stressful time!

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The coaches who submit the pre-reads on July 1 have been in discussions with the recruits for all of junior year, at least with the top recruits. The students can contact the coaches at any time but for most sports there is a date, usually in the summer between sophomore and junior year, when the coaches can start contacting the students directly. For lacrosse, that date is Sept 1 of junior year. Have the coaches been in contact before that date? Yes (and many offers and commitments are made on Sept 1, junior year), but the contact is initiated by the student before that date.

For the NESCAC and Ivies, that offer/commitment is to ‘the recruiting process.’ The coach can never give an offer of admission but can agree to submit and support the recruit through admissions. The NESCAC and Ivy coaches are competing for the same athletes that other coachs in other leagues and conferences are, so they have to let recruits know they are interested long before July 1 of senior year. The students have to prepare their packages for admissions on July 1 for the pre-read.

Other sports have a different date, but the basketball coach will know what it is. Ask coaches, ask other players. The date may be the same for all schools in the sport, as it is in lacrosse, or it might be ‘around’ the same date. You just have to ask.