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Long but Fascinating read. Seems Canadian Amateur Athletics might just as muddy and sketchy as the US:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...gins/15386179/
Recommend you read the whole thing.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...gins/15386179/
It also represents the inevitable next step for a country in the midst of a basketball boom. Already home to the past two number one NBA draft picks — Anthony Bennett in 2013; Wiggins in 2014 — and three of the top 18 picks in June's draft, Canada is now mimicking America's basketball world in another respect: engaging in the often-elusive chase for the next homegrown prodigy.
In Las Vegas, Daniel didn't single-handedly dominate any game statistically. But he also never made a single ill-advised pass or poor basketball decision. Not nearly as athletic as Wiggins was in high school — few players are — Daniel exhibited few visible weaknesses other than his build (155 pounds) and tendency to defer too much.
At the beginning of this year, Clive Daniel recalls, he realized, "Wow, this kid has it. He truly has it. He can make it to the league. Really, he is that good." But displaying extraordinary skill at 15 is one thing. Remaining on course to blossom into the next Wiggins, who was so celebrated in high school he once received a congratulatory tweet from Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is another.
At the beginning of this year, Clive Daniel recalls, he realized, "Wow, this kid has it. He truly has it. He can make it to the league. Really, he is that good." But displaying extraordinary skill at 15 is one thing. Remaining on course to blossom into the next Wiggins, who was so celebrated in high school he once received a congratulatory tweet from Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is another.
Just as Wiggins did when he attended Huntington Prep (W.Va.), the 6-foot-4 Daniel, a combo guard proficient in fundamentals, plans to play high school basketball in the United States to benefit from the best competition and most exposure. His father, Clive Daniel, is so committed to that plan that he left his job in Toronto more than a year ago to move — without a full-salaried job — to the Phoenix area, where his son plans to join a fledgling basketball program, Elite 1 Academy for Academics & Athletics, beginning in the fall of 2015.
Elite 1-affiliated players take classes at a three-year-old charter school, The Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies. Odyssey is "fully accredited," says Russell, who later adds that he is unaware if the school's courses have already been approved by the NCAA.
But Odyssey has not even created an account with the NCAA Eligibility Center to begin a review process that will determine which of its courses are approved, NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham says. Without completing approved courses, aspiring college athletes enrolled there now would be ineligible to compete in college.
"That's pretty unusual" for the school not to create an account, Durham says. If the courses are ultimately approved, they will be retroactively green-lighted for students taking them now, but Durham says it is a risk to take any course that has yet to be approved.
"It's obviously not something we would advise the student-athlete to take a chance on," she says. "We advise them, if they are planning to play sports in college, to make sure they are taking classes that have already been approved by the Eligibility Center."
Elite 1-affiliated players take classes at a three-year-old charter school, The Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies. Odyssey is "fully accredited," says Russell, who later adds that he is unaware if the school's courses have already been approved by the NCAA.
But Odyssey has not even created an account with the NCAA Eligibility Center to begin a review process that will determine which of its courses are approved, NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham says. Without completing approved courses, aspiring college athletes enrolled there now would be ineligible to compete in college.
"That's pretty unusual" for the school not to create an account, Durham says. If the courses are ultimately approved, they will be retroactively green-lighted for students taking them now, but Durham says it is a risk to take any course that has yet to be approved.
"It's obviously not something we would advise the student-athlete to take a chance on," she says. "We advise them, if they are planning to play sports in college, to make sure they are taking classes that have already been approved by the Eligibility Center."
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