<p>Hello all</p>
<p>I am creating this discussion to attain some advice regarding my son's situation.</p>
<p>My son and I live in Perth, Australia, he 17 years old and has recently graduated high school this year in November (the Australian high school year begins in February and ends in November). He plays basketball at a very high level over here and dreams of playing college basketball. HOWEVER we are finding it quite difficult to uncover information about the NCAA and his ability to play college basketball.</p>
<p>Because he is so far away from the U.S., we haven't been able to generate enough interest from colleges in the U.S. to attain a scholarship and we are looking for other alternatives for him to attain a scholarship to play basketball.</p>
<p>A friend told us that he could attend a post-graduate institution at the end of 2015 and study and play basketball at school till early 2016, whereby if he plays well enough he may generate interest from colleges and attain a scholarship.</p>
<p>My question is, will the 9 months or so where he doesn't attend any sort of schooling between when he graduated from Australian high school and when he attends a post-graduate institution in any way affect his NCAA eligibility to play college basketball?</p>
<p>And is there any other avenues we can explore?</p>
<p>Much appreciated! DP</p>
<p>If you go to the NCAA clearing house website, it will list all the rules. He shouldn’t have a problem with not playing for 6-9 months or so, but DON’T play semi pro for money or take endorsements. Postgrad schools can be quite expensive as they are usually boarding prep schools.</p>
<p>Basketball is a headcount sport for Div 1, meaning he’ll get a full scholarship or nothing at all. For div 2 schools he could get a partial scholarship. What type of school is he looking for, and what does he want to study? He might get some interest at smaller D2 schools by sending video and stats to some of the coaches. Basketball is a little different in recruiting as kids are recruited both out of high schools and AAU leagues. If he could play in the AAU next summer, that might be enough to get recruited although probably for the following school year. The USA is big with thousands of schools. Is he looking for big, small, north, south? There is also D3, where there are no athletic scholarships but can have merit or financial need scholarships.</p>
<p>Ok thank you for helping out!</p>
<p>I briefly visited the NCAA website and found a rule book which I will read through. Would you recommend calling the NCAA and asking them to advise me on my son’s situation?</p>
<p>My main concern is that I’ve heard that their are rules stating that an athlete only has one year off from when he or she graduates high school to when he or she attends college to play a sport, and in this year he or she may choose to train or attend a prep school. And by my son and I waiting 9 months to enroll in a prep school the NCAA will look at his academic timeline and will rule him ineligible because he graduated in 2014 and will attend college in 2016, hence taking ‘two years’ off after high school.</p>
<p>From the people we have talked to, including ex-college players, it looks like he is a candidate to play at a strong Division II school or low-major Division I. This is why it is essential we explore the avenue of playing basketball in the U.S. as soon as possible. Would you say that playing AAU would give him adequate enough exposure to generate college interest and possibly offers?</p>
You should be able to find a prep school willing to take him in August 2015, especially if he’s a strong basketball player. It would only be a couple months off, since the PG (post grad) year wouldn’t count against the time he’s allowed.