Some college basketball coaches are upset that the Conference Commissioners Association wants to abolish the July recruiting period.

The commissioners just don't understand what it is like on the road, visiting summer camps and clinics over two 10-day scouting trips, the coaches say.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany dismisses that argument.

He did just that to a reporter during Thursday’s Big Ten media day by noting that he attended AAU events as a coach with the Illinois Defenders in 2006-08.

Delany said Thursday he isn’t spearheading the July elimination movement - although he has spoken up before about needing to reform college basketball recruiting - but he does support it.

“I don’t think by the colleges getting out of the summers that I think the summers will go away. I don’t mean that at all,” Delany said. “I mean, is there another way to evaluate players? Maybe it is revisiting the tryout rule on campus. Maybe it is USA basketball and iHoops getting together to create four to six regional skill camps and competition camps.

“Maybe there’s another way.”

Delany and the Big Ten basketball coaches met for 90 minutes Wednesday night to discuss recruiting and other issues. Delany says he wants to see the corruption in recruiting stymied.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors is expected to vote this week on what it will do with the conference commissioners’ recommendation.

“Obviously there are some flaws with the way it is,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “I’m not sure right now which way to go ...”

“The shortened period, change it, tweak it, there (are) some different options. But I know it will be a hot topic over the next year.”

Michigan State leads awards

Michigan State senior guard Kalin Lucas was named the Big Ten’s Preseason Player of the Year and the Spartans were picked to finish as the league’s best team.

Lucas was joined on the league’s preseason all-conference team by Illinois senior guard Demetri McCamey, Purdue senior guard E’Twaun Moore, Purdue senior forward JaJuan Johnson and Wisconsin senior forward Jon Leuer.

The Spartans were followed by Ohio State and Purdue in the poll released by the Big Ten, which only lists the top three teams.

Iowa's Fran McCaffery ready to go

For many Big Ten coaches, media day is nothing new.

Then there’s Fran McCaffery, the league’s only rookie coach. He took over for former Iowa coach Todd Lickliter in the off-season after leading Siena to the NCAA tournament.

“It’s great,” McCaffery said. “It’s exciting. It’s challenging. It’s anything that anybody that gets into our business that we aspire to, to be here.”

He’s going to have a challenge, though. His team is considered by most to be at the bottom of the Big Ten - a young team learning an uptempo system.

“We’ve got to be tough, have got to be resilient,” McCaffery said. “Band together and play some defense.”

It didn’t help that his best player, guard Matt Gatens, will be out for at least three weeks after tearing a tendon in his left thumb.

Gatens was supposed to be at media day Thursday. Instead, he was in surgery.

Bo Ryan just happy to be there Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has a great deadpan comedy delivery - and broke it out in his opening statement.

In some ways, though, it had a tinge of truth, as the winds in the Chicago area were vicious Wednesday.

“Anybody that drove yesterday to arrive here in Chicago, it was quite an experience,” Ryan said. “They had to get one of the bellhops to come out to my car when I arrived and they peeled my fingers off one at a time from the steering wheel.

“I’ve never seen or experienced anything like that. There was a truck that went up on all its wheels on the left side. That goodness it wasn’t a unicycle car. But it actually came up and tilted. It was about 100 yards in front of me.

“So just to arrive here and be here to talk Big Ten basketball, I’m pretty excited, as you can tell.”

The weather was so bad Penn State’s contingent couldn’t get out of State College, Pa., and did not make the trip.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein