But with the academies starting this week, there is one problem — virtually none of the top players in the country plan to go.

“Only the N.C.A.A. can take a screwed-up situation in the recruiting landscape and make it worse,” said Dinos Trigonis, who for more than 20 years has operated travel teams and leagues in Southern California. “These camps are full of Division III players and the N.C.A.A. is paying for them.”

There are myriad reasons few top players will be at the camps, which are being held at UConn, Illinois, Houston and Grand Canyon: a conflict with this week’s U.S.A. Basketball Junior National Team camp; some states’ high school federations, like Wisconsin’s, prohibiting families from accepting N.C.A.A. travel reimbursements; and some players wanting a break after several months of bouncing around the country.

It did not help that the process for earning an invitation to the camps was rife with conflicts of interest: Players had to nominate themselves, then were chosen by college coaches. Several coaches noted that lower-level schools were incentivized to not vote for an under-the-radar prospect, lest he be discovered by a more prominent school. Meanwhile, the N.C.A.A announced only in the last week who would be doing the teaching and which players would be attending the camps, leaving college coaches scrambling to decide which camps (if any) would be worth attending.

[Read how LeBron James Jr. was a big draw at the Peach Jam this month, even though he hasn’t entered high school.]