NCAA approves three basketball recruiting evaluation periods in July

The table has been set for AAU basketball to return to full strength in July — with Division I college basketball coaches there in-person.

On Wednesday, the NCAA Division I council approved two more weekends in July for college basketball coaches to recruit in-person, bringing the total to three: July 8-11, July 16-18 and July 23-25.

The decision marks a return to a closer-to-normal recruiting calendar after a 14-month moratorium on in-person recruiting, hampering a key component of the recruiting process: in-person contact.

And it stems from the postponement of the 2021 NCAA College Basketball Academy, a developmental event for prospects to feel out the recruiting process, and the transition to college athletics.

There are three mid-week dead periods in July.

The NCAA first instituted the in-person recruiting restrictions on March 13, 2020 in the outset of the pandemic. It has been extended eight times.

It is set to lift on June 1, which will open the recruiting floodgates. The Under Armour Association had already outlined its July club basketball tournament schedule, while the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League has not been officially green-lit.

Coaches are not allowed to make in-person contact with recruits during recruiting dead period, including in-person evaluations, campus or in-home visits.