UmpSteve wrote:PDad wrote:UmpSteve wrote:You can buy that if you care to. Here's an alternate explanation.
The college coaches have already picked thru the players of the last teams standing, so there are no new available recruits. And they have already touched base with their "commits", so that job is done; any new recruits were offered once their team was eliminated. Despite the often stated desire to see the players compete, they are almost NEVER there just to watch players compete. Anyone still hanging around is waiting to offer the very few crumbs still uncommitted.
Seems like you're suggesting the explanations are mutually exclusive when in fact they're interrelated.
In my experience, the interrelationship is somewhat limited.
While coaches may rationalize that they are saving their limited recruiting days, the truth is that at MANY exposure/showcase events, even those with recruitable players remaining on Sunday, you hardly EVER see college coaches remaining on the final day. Maybe a local school hanging around, or a newly named coach looking at her "inherited" commits; but those with travel are long gone, with those plans made well before they even know who might be recruitable on the final day. For the most part, it seems the vast majority of college coaches leave the fields once they are fed Saturday dinner.
The contradictory flaw in your logic is you downplay the limit and then base it all on personal observations with the limit in place. I expect things will change this fall when they're only allowed to watch Sat/Sun and there's no limit. I also expect an umpire of your experience knows how rules shape the strategies used by competitors.
Consider me a skeptic, if you will; but the desire to have fixed and locked times to preplan what they feel they must do (drop dead timing) seems to FAR exceed any desire to see the players actually compete (when that leads to uncertainty of their time).
The uncertainty of bracket play makes it risky with a limited number of days because they burn a whole day once they start watching a game. I wonder how many college coaches watch games streamed on FloSoftball, especially afterward when they can fast-forward to the parts they want to see...
People misunderstood what college coaches meant by "see" players compete. It was primarily a desire for players to compete in more games with a consequence (i.e. win or go home) instead of so many showcases. It was about wanting them to compete more under pressure to prepare them for college ball rather than a desire to actually watch them play in bracket games. They can
see what kinds of events are being played without
seeing the actual games.