One of the things I love about living in the South is the food and the culture that comes with it. We gather in spaces to break bread, debate the style of cooking meats and honor the tradition of cultivating relationships over a plate of food. 

In the South, we have a thing called the Meat & Three. You pick your meat and three sides. It’s that simple. I love it. How can you not? 

As we - the world - sit around and wait out the pandemic (what a sentence to write!), I wanted to bring the philosophy of a hoops version of a Meat & Three. So, Monday through Friday around lunchtime, I want to run something called the Meat & Three. 

Enjoy. Now, pass the butter. 

THE MEAT: MORE THOUGHTS ON A SEPTEMBER LIVE PERIOD

I dropped a proposal of a September NCAA Live Period this morning. I hope you’ve read it. 

When things are interrupted, change is sure to follow. With regards to college basketball recruiting, this is a time where solutions are needed more than “well, this sucks” conversation. Like I mentioned in the pitch story, the women’s side ran events in September for years. It was one weekend - just Saturday and Sunday. It worked out just fine for all parties involved. 

The college coaches, in both men’s and women’s college basketball realms, are already on the road. The September weekend is before college practices. I’ve heard feedback already about state high school associations perhaps not allowing it because of baked in rules and regulations. It just makes too much sense to adopt it for the men's side of things and re-adopt it for the women's side. 

Change is bred from disruption and change is certainly coming because of circumstance. That starts from leadership, who has to reconsider "the way it has always been done" decision-making and understand the why. Perhaps I'm optimistic, but I hope leadership - in any form - grows during this strange time.

Travel team coaches and program directors are waiting for the green light to turn on. They want to play. The players want to play. We all want the games back. There’s no denying that. We also have to understand how the timeline is now shifted. Things aren’t going to happen in the manner we’re accustomed to. 

Changing your norms of schedule will be shifted in 2020. That’s the reality of all of this. 

Recruiting is no different. College coaches are still actively seeking players in the 2020 class and without a spring live period, assuming that industry goes completely cancelled, the demand for more information for the 2020 class will certainly increase. Thus, pushing everything back. 

September makes perfect sense for a spillover month. I hope the decision-makers at the NABC take this pitch into consideration and we roll out a weekend in September. It’s a simple fix. 

THE THREE: NOTE OF THE DAY, STREAM OF THE DAY, PHOTO OF THE DAY 

NOTE OF THE DAY 

We launched our Preview Camp in 2014. It was an invite-only camp. You had to get a personal invite to play in this camp. There wasn’t untying quite like it in Georgia. There still isn’t. Dennis Felton, former head coach at the University of Georgia, was our lead camp coach. The idea of our camp is giving legitimate college prospects a preview as to what college practice is like. 

To understand the landscape of camps, most “elite” players don’t go to hyper-local camps for a myriad of reasons. So when Jaylen Brown showed up as a junior from Marietta (GA) Wheeler High School, I sat down with him and thanked him for coming. 

“I realize you don’t have to be here,” I told him.

He looked at me puzzled and a little pissed.

“Why wouldn’t I come?” he asked. “If I don’t come and someone else is the best player here, then they will say he’s the best guy in Georgia.” 

That, in a nutshell, is Jaylen Brown. He is a competitor. You better believe he set the tone for the day and for every Preview since. 

He made the 79 players compete at a higher level. That one-day camp also had Malik Beasley, Devontae Cacok, Jared Harper, Chuma Okeke, Josh Okogie and Kobi Simmons, each of those players has played in the NBA.

STREAM OF THE DAY 

In 2005, the Reebok ABCD camp was one of the premier events of summer basketball. This camp was the king of the kingdom. Sonny Vaccaro and his team built something special this particular year. Guys like Kevin Love, Isaiah Thomas, Greg Oden, Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Bill Walker, Lance Stephenson, Brandon Jennings, Derek Caracter and so many others were at this camp. 

I remember it vividly. It was one of the most entertaining weeks I’ve had in covering prep hoops. This is a YouTube black hole worthy of a binge during this strange stay at home period. Enjoy it. 

TY FREEMAN PHOTO OF THE DAY