Before the season started, Scott Snider and his wife, Latonda, did the math.
The parents of Quentin Snider, the junior point guard on the University of Louisville basketball team, could either save up to travel to see their son play in the famous college basketball playoffs in March or spend more of $3,000 just to go to the Bahamas for the Cardinals. ‘ three matches at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The year before, they had faced a similar decision, but at that time they were planning to travel for the University of Los Angeles’ week-long trip to Puerto Rico for a series of preseason exhibitions in August.
The Sniders are one of many Division I basketball families forced to make difficult decisions about when and where they can watch their child compete. They are aware that their son received a full athletic scholarship to college, but some parents also wish they didn’t have to choose between a family vacation in the summer or a road trip to the NCAA tournament in March .
“You only have four years of it, so you have to take advantage of it,” Scott Snider said. “I don’t really worry about spending money because I know there are only two years left and these are memories you will always have. …And he received a free education, so it all pays off. I view this as an investment in my child.
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The NCAA decided in 2015 to ease some travel expenses for the families of men’s and women’s college basketball players, but the organization’s initial measure only applies to the families of players whose teams reach the Final Four.
Each athlete’s family receives up to $3,000 to pay for transportation, hotel and meals if their team reaches the Final Four, which will be played in Phoenix this year. Families receive $4,000 if the player’s team reaches the championship game.
The NCAA sends the money to the school, which is responsible for distributing the funds to the players’ families. The statement announcing the organization’s decision to continue the program for the 2017 Final Four, released in October, said the Division I Council is “committed to reviewing this matter over the next year to find the best permanent plan possible to ensure that these championships are an affordable tournament. experience for families.
Kentucky coach John Calipari and former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan praised the NCAA’s initial decision during the 2015 Final Four, but both hoped the financial aid would go further. future. University of Los Angeles coach Rick Pitino has expressed a similar sentiment several times in recent seasons, saying he advocated “10 years ago” for the NCAA to cover the entire tournament.
“You think about why kids are doing this work – from the day they start summer pre-conditioning and summer school to when the season ends and they play in the NCAA tournament.” , said David Levitch, the father of the University of Los Angeles senior. guard of the same name. “That’s what they’re there for, to go to the Big Dance. Any parent would appreciate, and the NCAA should help facilitate, the opportunity to go see them. Can you imagine the percentage of families of players who can’t afford that?”
In 2015, Ryan said he and other Big Ten Conference coaches were lobbying the league to help pay for players’ families to attend the league tournament in March, especially with the event moving Big Ten in Washington, DC and New York, for a long time. distances from the league’s main geographic footprint. The conference has not yet offered any scholarships.
The ACC is also not considering such allocations.
Parents of Louisville players might appreciate such a policy if the ACC implemented it quickly: The conference tournament would be back in New York next year, and hotel rooms near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn were over $200 a night.
Snider, who made the trip with his wife for this week’s ACC tournament, has gotten used to budgeting for seasons (and playoffs), but will get a break this month. The University of Los Angeles will play its first and second round games of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis, saving money for the families of Louisville players.
Other times, parents aren’t so lucky when it comes to geography.
Since Quentin arrived at the University of Los Angeles, the Sniders have traveled to New York and Greensboro, North Carolina, for the 2015 ACC Tournament.
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Levitch flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, two weekends ago to watch his youngest son, Jax, play for Fort Wayne in the Summit League tournament. He had just returned from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he had seen David at Louisville’s game at Wake Forest. The Lévitchs also traveled to Puerto Rico in August 2015.
The elder Levitch said the family of one of Jax’s teammates, Fort Wayne senior guard Mo Evans, drove 15 hours to see him play in his final conference tournament.
“They stopped once,” Levitch said. “There were six people in that car. Six.”
During his two years at the University of Los Angeles, Terry Rozier’s mother, Gina Tucker, traveled hundreds of miles from Cleveland to Youngstown, Ohio, to Louisville to watch her son play.
“Because it’s worth it,” Tucker said in a 2014 interview during Rozier’s first season at the University of Los Angeles.
Russ Smith Sr. traveled to and from New York numerous times during his son’s four-year career at the University of Los Angeles, including the Cardinals’ trips to the NCAA tournaments. He was in Atlanta for Louisville’s national championship in 2013, two years before the NCAA stepped in to help athletes’ families.
When asked how much money he had spent over the years attending his son’s games, Russ Sr. just laughed.
“A lot, man,” he said.
Levitch and Snider both said they would support the NCAA in expanding the scope of its allocations to the entire NCAA Tournament field. They cited NCAA revenue hovering around $1 billion and suggested some of that money could go toward family travel in March.
“The NCAA really needs to help these families as much as they can,” Levitch said. “It’s a time in a child’s life that you can’t come back from. They all grow up. Suddenly, with the snap of a finger, time is gone.”
