As Gerry McNamara and Felisha Legette-Jack continue to build their programs, they'll have new experiences to offer prospective student-athletes.
A new NCAA rule is opening up the door for the Syracuse men's and women's basketball programs.
It's a niche rule, but it can still help both programs grow in the current landscape of college athletics.
Per Nelson Castillo on social media:
Per the NCAA release today, men's and women's basketball teams are now allowed to take a summer foreign tour every year. Before, it was only allowed once every four years. It is effective immediately.
Let's take a deeper dive into what this all means for SU and how it can impact each team going forward.
The foreign recruiting angle
I think this might be the biggest benefit of all. As the game gets more international, more players are coming from foreign countries to play college basketball in the United States.
Can these trips be used as a way to help close recruiting deals? It sure feels like it.
If you recruit a highly-touted player from Serbia, can you promise them that at some point during their four years is a summer tour in Serbia? If you want to recruit a promising player from France, can you promise the same thing, but in Paris?
Programs have long promised high profile high school recruits games back in their home areas. This is just an extension of that. And it could be a big benefit in bringing in talent.
The team chemistry angle
Given the fragmented nature of college sports, there are always questions about team chemistry. With so many moving parts to a roster, how well do players really know each other? How much do they really like each other?
College basketball feels very business-like and transactional right now, but if you want to spearhead a team-bonding session, there might be no better way than taking a group of 18-24 year olds overseas for 10 days and forcing them to spend real quality time together, on court and off.
Syracuse Orange forward Sadiq White warms up before the game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena. Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn ImagesThe questions we have
I think this is undoubtedly a good thing, but there is one key question:
How do these trips get funded, and as a result, what happens if your program doesn't want to take one? At that rate, you'd certainly risk falling behind, wouldn't you?
Is a recruit turned off by a school that won't invest in these kind of trips? Are they impressed that your rivals are taking these trips and they are promoted in their visits with them?
These are things that Syracuse will have to navigate moving forward.
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