If today is Wednesday, this must be Springfield.

That’s the kind of fortnight it’s been for NIU men’s basketball coach Jim Rosborough and his staff, who have spent the past two weeks driving back and forth across Illinois and other parts of the Midwest in search of possible NIU recruits.

The reason for all this hurried scouting is that the NCAA’s three-week evaluation period of high school basketball prospects, which began July 11, is coming to a close. Midnight Sunday marks the end of what Rosborough called the “key evaluation time” for college coaches.

Rosborough said it is necessary to see as many players as possible during this three-week period, and that means the schedule can become rather grueling.

“On Monday your hair is well groomed,” Rosborough said as he described a typical week. “By Wednesday your eyes are shot, and by Friday you can’t see more than 200 feet in front of you.”

Rosborough has traveled more than 4,000 miles and seen 300 plus games in the past two weeks. He has already seen one prospect play in 15 games.

Assistant coaches John Mackey and Robert Collins have been scouring the countryside too, and now the Huskie staff must make some sense out of what they’ve seen.

“This week we’re trying to finish up and cross-check our evaluations as much as possible,” Rosborough said.

The search for young talent has taken the NIU coaches from Milwaukee to northern Kentucky and from the Quad Cities to Detroit. Rosborough also has been contemplating a trip to Ypsilanti, Mich.

Last weekend at the B.C. Camp in Indiana, one of the top camps in the country, Rosborough had the opportunity to see 560 players. The Huskie head coach also saw 32 games in one day while scouting at the Morris Shootout.

The players being looked at are mostly juniors, though the NIU coaches are taking a close look at freshmen and sophomores as well. The 1988-89 Huskies will consist primarily of freshmen and sophomores, so Rosborough & Co. are looking to fill the NIU roster two, three, even four years from now.

Coaches are not allowed to talk with the players at the various camps, summer leagues and tournaments, and Rosborough said that keeps the big-name coaches from crowding around the prospects. The coaches may phone the players, but conversing with them in person at games is a violation of NCAA rules.

“It’s fair for everybody,” Rosborough said. “You’ve got to use your spare time to get on the phone and talk with the kids and their parents.”

Rosborough said he could not talk specifically about who the Huskies were scouting, but he indicated they were after “big kids.” That revelation was not surprising since the team has just two players over 6-foot-8, and they will both be freshmen next season.