LeBron James had the best news conference of any recruit in July, albeit the only one, giving college basketball the most notable 20 minutes of the summer when he addressed a pack of reporters at the adidas-run ABCD camp in Teaneck, N.J.

July was supposed to be his month, his goodbye to the summer scene as he contemplates Nike or adidas and what he should wear on draft night 2003 when he's the likely No. 1 pick. Instead, the talk faded from his broken wrist and whether or not he would play anywhere in the month (he wouldn't until Jordan's camp this week in Santa Barbara, Calif.) to actually what was happening on the court or in the stands at the various tournaments throughout the country.

The focus turned to everyone else, which in the end was probably where it should have been for college basketball coaches. And what we uncovered through a few trips and a ton of conversations and observations was an "in" and an "out" list for the month of July:

In: The Class of 2004
Out: The Class of 2003

Missouri assistant Lane Odom said he may be in the minority but he loves the class of 2003. Maybe that's because the Tigers are doing well with their top recruits, hoping to land Luol Deng and Olu Famutimi. But the reality is that Odom is in the minority.

A number of coaches were thrilled with the rising junior class this month. So much so that some coaches were even talking about holding open a scholarship or two under the 5/8 rule to ensure they can sign as many juniors as possible. The 5/8 rule means schools can sign a maximum of five newcomers in a given class, no more than eight in two. It increased from 5/9 after this recruiting class.

The chatter from college and NBA scouts is that the class of 2004 has a deeper pool of impact players -- possibly for both levels. Sure, the top of the class of 2003 like James, Kendrick Perkins, Ndudi Ebi, Deng, Charlie Villanueva, Brian Butch, Shannon Brown, Travis Outlaw, Leon Powe and David Padgett has the potential to get to the next level but the class of 2004 apparently is even deeper.

Remember the names Brian Johnson, Jason Horton, Daniel Gibson, Mohammed Tangara, Vakeaton Wafer, Kalen Grimes, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, Mike Williams, Darius Washington, Shaun Livingston, Marvin Williams, LaMarcus Aldridge, Randolph Morris and Sebastian Telfair because all will get plenty of ink a year from now.

"This summer was all about the new guys, the juniors, the ones that few knew about,'' Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez said.

In: Luol Deng
Out: Sebastian Telfair

The player who seemed to live up to his potential in the class of 2003 was Deng while Telfair is one that keeps getting too much hype out of the class of 2004.

	Believe the hype on Luol Deng.

Deng lived up to his billing by being the consummate star player, scoring from all over the court, displaying his passing skills and proving that he can be a decent defender away from the ball. He was a mentor to 14-year old Derrick Caracter and told him how to handle the watchful eyes of coaches like Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson.

They were in the house to watch him, not necessarily Caracter, but the two were paired on the same team at Nike. Deng, who has Duke, Missouri, Virginia and Texas beating down his door, would and should be the top player in the class of those who are going to college. Clearly, he's not above James but won't disappoint as the top player who will make the natural jump from high school to college in 2003-04.

Meanwhile, Telfair has a year to get his act together. He has the goods to be one of the better point guards to come out of New York. His passes are crisp and deceptive but his actions (trying to play to the crowd) didn't impress NBA or college coaches. It might work for the fans and when he's playing at home but most coaches turned away when he was trying to draw attention to himself after a pass or by taking too many shots, especially too quickly in a halfcourt set.

Any talk of him being the first point guard to make the jump from high school to the NBA should be stricken from the record. His cousin, Stephon Marbury, should do him a favor and implore that his focus be on his final two years of high school and going to college where he would have a chance to make the league -- and we don't mean the Entertainer's Basketball Classic (a.k.a. Rucker League) once he refines his game.

In: Evaluating
Out: Schmoozing

Here's a shocker: coaches actually evaluated players in July instead of spending time getting to know the summer-league coaches dining habits.

"More coaches had to watch games,'' Pittsburgh assistant coach Jamie Dixon said.

It's true. Coaches were able to watch games and then leave a game and go to another one without having to spend time in a wedding like reception line to talk to a summer league coach.

The rules changed this July, preventing coaches from talking to the coaches or the players parents (if they were in attendance) at an event or anywhere else during the tournament.

In previous years, coaches used to spend wasted time waiting to shake the hand of a summer-league coach after games instead of hopping in their car to get to the next gym and catch a game. Coaches didn't have to worry about slipping a business card, hanging out late at night with a coach in a bar or restaurant or trying to get a bump in by going up the same elevator in the hotel.

The NCAA was watching and busted some coaches for saying more than hello to any summer-league coaching friends they may have or even family members working on "the other side,'' in July.

"We were truly evaluating,'' Memphis coach John Calipari said. "But it's like gun control. You can have it but someone is left with the guns. Hopefully, everyone is walking the same line. The idea of not having a receiving line is great if everyone is doing it.''

In: Foreign fundamentals
Out: American selfishness

Whenever a foreign player made his appearance at a camp, suddenly NBA and college coaches were intrigued with the player's potential. When an American player was selfish, then it enhanced the foreign player's stature.

The trend of going foreign won't hit college campuses as hard as the NBA because of the NCAA's restriction on foreign players. Foreign players are subject to an eight-game penalty if they played with pros or were on a professional team.

But in a year that penalty jumps to a game-for-game hit and could take a player out for an entire season or deem him ineligible to ever play college basketball. What might start happening is more foreign players coming over earlier.

Nike and adidas certainly got the word and are trying to get more foreign players in their camps. Three of the bigger names at the adidas camp in early July were foreign players: 6-11 Malick Badiane of Senegal, 6-11 Yi Jianlian of China and 6-11 Martin Iti of Australia by way of a number of schools in the U.S.

"It's just like the NBA draft,'' Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. "It's amazing how many (foreign players) were in the U.S. this summer. There were a couple of Lithuanian kids in California. I even saw some at JC tournaments.''

A number of coaches also skipped Las Vegas to head over to Lithuania for the 20-and-under European championships. Some even ventured earlier in the month to Germany for the 18-and-under European championships. Scouting in South America was also on the agenda of a few programs.

In: Guards
Out: Centers

Once again, there aren't as many true centers in high school basketball -- or players, for that matter, who would like to play with their back to the basket. Certainly, there were a fair share of power forwards, small forwards and players who loved to dunk -- like Travis Outlaw.

But guards are still the dominant position and were some of the first players to commit the past month. Chris Paul committed to Wake Forest, Brandon Cotton and Shannon Brown to Michigan State, J.R. Reynolds to Virginia, Dion Harris to Michigan.

Two of the players who got the most buzz over the past month were point guards -- Mustafa Shakur and Andrew Lavender. Shakur out of Wynnewood, Pa., is considered one of the top players in the class and has Arizona, NC State and Villanova among others in hot pursuit.

Lavender, out of Columbus, Ohio, got more pub because of his size. He's only 5-7, but he's a jet in the open court and hard to pin down when he's on the run. Summer ball usually is a guard's game with most of them holding onto the ball either passing it late or taking the shots too early in the offense.

Pittsburgh assistant Jaime Dixon didn't see as many true point guards, at least in terms of depth, in the class. But overall guards -- or big guards or wings, or whatever you want to call them -- were plentiful.

Getting a center or a power player and nabbing a commitment from Beaumont's Kendrick Perkins, like Memphis did, or Birmingham's James Lang, like Louisville did is a coup.

Outlaw (headed to Mississippi State), Ken Harris (bound for Valparaiso), Ivan Harris (off to Ohio State), and Brandon Bass out of Baton Rouge, La., (still available and highly coveted) will form some of the top power players in college basketball in the coming years.

In: Recruiting for the upcoming season
Out: Scheduling

Finding players for the 2002-03 season wasn't reserved for the two signing periods in November and April of 2001-02. A number of schools were pursuing foreign players, junior college talent and transfers throughout July.

Foreign players like Christian Drejer of Denmark (who chose Florida over Florida State and Gonzaga), a number of Israelis who chose schools like Clemson, Saint Louis and Cal (although Yaniv Green later went back to Israel) and free agent types like Tim Pickett (let go by South Carolina and picked up by Florida State after originally committing to Wyoming) were in high demand. So, too, was Bruce Price, a defensive specialist from Minneapolis who got eligible and is still weighing St. John's, Providence, Minnesota and Boston College.

Schools were looking for role players for the upcoming season when they went foreign or tried to find someone who was eligible at the last minute.

Trying to schedule games with the 2-in-4 ruling coming down in mid-July really was a sore subject and continues to take up time for coaches and athletic directors. This is the latest that schools have gone without finishing their schedules.

The problem is that the majority of high-profile schools left open one game to see if the 2-in-4 ruling on exempted tournaments got lifted. It didn't and that left schools scrambling to fill their schedules.

The consensus among coaches and ADs was to finish the schedules earlier for next season, possibly in the fall. Schools don't want to wait as long as they did this summer.

In: Team USA
Out: adidas/Nike camp games

A number of high-profile incoming freshmen and rising seniors declined to participate in the U.S. Junior National Team tryouts. But the players who did got a significant boost from the games in Venezuela.

The players who are still in high school like Kris Humphries, Aaron Brooks and David Padgett will definitely benefit from the games against some of the better players in Argentina, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Coaches who watched the games, and the one who coached the team, Oregon's Ernie Kent, got a chance to see recruitable players in live action that meant something. Players were trying harder and it gave coaches a more realistic evaluation.

The same can't be said for some of the games earlier in the month at the Nike and adidas camp. Coaches were down on the style of play, so much so that some have sworn off going to the adidas all-star game. The selfish play and run-and-gun style disappointed a ton of coaches. The players don't get much out of the games except for the exercise and a chance to show off their athleticism.

There aren't going to be changes at these camps, but players should take note of the importance to their game, not just to their country, of playing for the U.S. when the opportunity arises.

In: AAU games
Out: The cost of summer tournament programs

Games later in the month were actually hailed as being worth watching and attending. As players got used to their traveling teams the games were more competitive and had more of a purpose for scouts in Orlando and Las Vegas.

Coaches see so many games in July that it made the process a lot easier to take when the games were a bit more fundamentally sound.

But paying to watch the games was another issue.

Coaches were aghast at the cost of some of the programs to get into the events like in New Jersey and Las Vegas. Paying $100 or $200 for a program with some names on it was ridiculous. Of course, the media gets their program for free, and outlets may not pay the cost if the media was being charged as much as the D-I schools.

Coaches only pay for the programs, which aren't always correct, because everyone else does. If they didn't then a revenue source would be taken away from the organizers.

"Those books aren't always correct and that causes a lot of problems,'' Providence assistant Steve DeMeo said. "You need the names and numbers to be right. It has to be.''

But apparently they always weren't factual, leaving some coaches needing to ask someone who a player was and where he was from. That could have led to an innocent violation if the question was directed at a coach or a tournament organizer.

In: Call recruits' parents
Out: The four-day break

While coaches weren't upset that they didn't have to schmooze, they did think the rules have to change to allow them to call a player's parents during July. They want to be able to tell a parent how much they like their son and get a read as to whether or not they should continue to recruit him.

"We've got to be able to call a kid's parents when he's away,'' Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "It can save us time. We can't find out who has the grades and who is interested if we're not allowed to contact the parents. Not talking to the AAU or summer-league coaches is fine.''

The consensus was it could save coaches and schools money if they don't have to travel to watch a kid play if he's not interested in that school.

"Let us call the parents and we'll find out if we're wasting our time,'' UCLA coach Steve Lavin said.

And, to our surprise, a number of coaches weren't that thrilled with the four-day break in the middle of two 10-day evaluation periods. This was the first July that the NCAA allowed a 20-day evaluation period, broken up by the four-day dead period.

Coaches spend a day traveling back home and then a day traveling back out on the road, giving him really only two days at home, said Wyoming coach Steve McClain.

"I'd like to see us go 14 straight days,'' McClain said. "We spend more money going back and forth rather than just staying on the road.''

The break was given for the coaches to get some rest and be with their families while giving players a few days to recharge their batteries before the final 10 days of games.

"Twenty days is enough, though,'' Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez said.

In: Michigan State and the big boys
Out: The lower profile schools

The Spartans continue to rack up the early commitments, as do the higher profile schools as previously mentioned. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and his staff is a hot commodity each July and didn't disappoint in '02.

A year ago, the Spartans' coup was grabbing Paul Davis early before anyone saw just how good a shooting forward he was in the summer. This time, the Spartans got commitments from guards Shannon Brown, Brandon Cotton and center Drew Naymick, putting Michigan State on track for a top five class.

The lower-profile schools are left to wait for the dominoes to fall like they do every summer. Valparaiso already had an early read on three oral commitments before the summer started (we're not including Gonzaga's three oral commitments because the Zags are no longer lower profile and belong in the higher profile discussion).

"The toughest thing about the new rules is it makes it hard to outwork someone because you can't contact the coach,'' Gonzalez said. "You have to wait for the smoke to clear. I felt like at times as a mid-major I was able to outwork and be aggressive but your hands are more tied now.''

And that won't change in summer recruiting.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.