There is no truth to the rumor that University of Wisconsin men's basketball coach Bo Ryan was spotted at the Blessed Sacrament gymnasium scouting sixth graders last week.

It only seems like it.

Ryan recently received oral commitments from high school sophomores Vander Blue of Madison Memorial and Evan Anderson of Eau Claire North, filling out his 2010-11 freshman class and causing some to wonder where it all will end.

As we speak, Ryan has received oral or signed commitments from nine players who still are worried about finding a date for the prom.

But while the practice of locking up players before they have finished their sophomore year in high school is fairly new in these parts, the sad reality is that Ryan isn't even close to being on the cutting edge when it comes to robbing the basketball cradle.

Worse, the trend toward recruiting players who are too young to make an educated college choice is accelerating.

Just last week, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie secured a commitment from an eighth grader. In declaring his intentions to someday play for Kentucky, Michael Avery of Sherwood, Calif., became a classic sign of the times: He chose a college even before he chose a high school.

Bill Self, the coach at national champion Kansas, has expressed concern about the trend toward signing players early. Of course, that didn't stop him from getting a commitment from Royce Woolridge, a high school sophomore from Phoenix and the son of former NBA player Orlando Woolridge.

Incredibly, Avery and Woolridge are not isolated cases.

Lately, more and more college coaches are trying to identify recruiting targets early and take them off the market before the competition for their services heats up.

Southern Cal coach Tim Floyd is waiting on two players who committed to him while in the eighth grade.

In 2006, Dwayne Polee Jr. of Westchester, Calif., declared for the Trojans. Last year, it was Ryan Boatwright of Aurora, Ill., who cast his lot with USC at the ripe old age of 14.

It's not fair to pin this all on Floyd, but his stated motive for pursuing eighth graders — the competition is recruiting them, so you have to respond — is symptomatic of the forces driving this phenomenon.

Was it a coincidence that UW's commitments from Blue and Anderson came just as scholarship offers were starting to pour in for both?

Many of the excesses of big-time sports are due to the monkey-see, monkey-do attitude that permeates the college landscape. It's the reason for the out-of-control arms race among schools, the reason coaches stretch the rules beyond recognition, the reason college recruiters are watching eighth graders play basketball.

It's all about keeping up with the competition. When one school builds a new football practice facility, others follow. When one school makes thousands of phone calls to a recruit, others follow. When one school pursues an eighth grader, others follow.

The coaches, it seems, can't help themselves. Because they can't, they have created an unhealthy situation loaded with risks for the schools, coaches and players.

Especially the players, who are the only ones not old enough to know better.