<Li> FBS coaches, as well as any staff members at FBS schools with football - specific responsibilities, are allowed to participate in clinics and camps only for 10 days in June and July, and only if they take place at that school's campus or at an off - campus facility the school regularly uses for practices or games . </Li> <P> Recruiting for Division I basketball teams is also closely followed by fans . Schools are limited to having 13 scholarship players in men's basketball and 15 in women's basketball . The formal NCAA rules and processes for recruiting and signing recruits are similar, but the identification and recruiting of talent differs from football in important ways . Whereas football players can only play in a very limited number of competitive games per year, summer camps and traveling AAU teams afford prospects the opportunity to play outside of the regular basketball season . As a result, while football players generally only come to the attention of college recruiters after excelling at the high school varsity level, top level basketball players may emerge as early as the 8th or 9th grade . Players may also consider their AAU team as their primary squad, which can make high school basketball coaches less influential in the recruiting process than high school football coaches . </P> <P> Another key difference in the recruiting cycle for college basketball, as opposed to that of football (prior to 2017--18), is the time of signing: </P> <Ul> <Li> First, basketball, along with most NCAA sports, has two signing periods during which all athletes are allowed to sign letters of intent--one in the fall (autumn) and the other in the spring . The early signing period starts on the second Wednesday of November and runs through the third Wednesday of that month . Before 2017--18, football's early signing period (between December and January) was restricted to junior - college transfers . </Li> <Li> The regular signing period in basketball does not start until the third Wednesday of April, after high schools throughout the U.S. have completed their basketball seasons . </Li> </Ul>

When do high school basketball players commit to colleges