Welcome to Summer Camp

America's Got Talent, and for This Basketball Assistant Coach, It's a Long Quest to Find It

PHILADELPHIA -- Chris Caputo walks through a lobby scattered with college basketball coaches in a plush downtown hotel just after 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, searching for a place to buy hot tea and a quick bite for breakfast.

The George Mason University assistant coach has a 16-hour day ahead of him watching high school basketball prospects -- and making sure they see him watching them -- and he's still determining his schedule. He needs to scout players and teams at both Philadelphia University and the College of New Jersey -- locations separated by about 40 miles -- while navigating a route he does not know in a car he's hardly driven.

All he knows at this point is he needs hot tea and a cup of fruit, because it will be a long day, just like the previous few days and the next few to come.

"You think they pulled the car up?" Caputo asks as he walks.

"How do we get to Philly U?" he continues.

"What time is it?"

These are all rhetorical questions. He gives no time to answer, instead moving on to his next thought during another morning in the life of a Division I assistant basketball coach during the NCAA's 20-day July evaluation period. Per NCAA rules, Caputo is not allowed to comment on players, but this month he needs to see and assess as many as possible.

This is Caputo's fourth summer on the scene recruiting for George Mason, where he has worked for seven years. His week started at a junior college tournament in Tulsa, was interrupted by a missed flight connection in Chicago and resumed with a standby flight to Newark. He arrived at his destination in Trenton, N.J., at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, less than six hours before his next scouting assignment.

On Wednesday, he enters the Reebok All-American Camp at Philadelphia University's gymnasium at 8:31 along with coaches from every major conference. The standard wardrobe for both assistant and head coaches are shirts with their school's colors and logo, khaki shorts and sneakers.

Two courts in the gym feature a series of organized games involving about 150 players. A set of bleachers sits at one end of the gym, and another is set up between the two courts. This is the most coveted spot, as coaches who stand along the top row can effectively watch two games at once.

"You always need to be watching everybody," Caputo says, taking his place at the top row of the middle bleacher.

The rows closest to the court are filled with prominent head coaches. Wide-eyed players peek toward the sidelines during stoppages of play.