College basketball coaches will hit the road today for their first July evaluation period, and many will make sure they park themselves in the first couple of rows at those high school events or stand along the baselines and near doorways.

They know the only thing as important as sizing up recruits is making sure you’re seen by them.

But face time last July wasn’t all that much help to University of Dayton coach Archie Miller, who was barely three months into his tenure. As Miller put it, “The kids, in some cases, didn’t even know your face.”

But he’s more recognizable to the players he’s pursuing this year after spending a season on the sidelines and bringing dozens of prospects to campus for visits.

“A lot of times now, you’re recruiting guys you know you want and you’re following around a lot of guys in particular who know who you are,” he said.

The UD staff also won’t have to be in scramble mode in putting together a recruiting class this year because a new NCAA rule gave coaches two evaluation weekends in April in addition to three consecutive five-day periods from Wednesday to Sunday this month.

The only offseason evaluation times last year were from July 6-15 and July 22-31.

“Last year, we weren’t allowed to be out in April. At that point, we knew recruiting was going to be rough,” Miller said. “Knowing how much ground we had to cover was really, really difficult, to be honest with you, in getting good evaluations and making the right decisions. We’re in a much different place right now.”

The Flyers will have four scholarships for the 2013 class, counting one carried over from the most recent recruiting cycle. They’ll be losing two frontcourt players in Matt Kavanaugh and Josh Benson and star point guard Kevin Dillard.

“Not that we need a ton of guys, but we need (to fill) the right spots,” Miller said. “I think one guy or two guys can do the trick. We’re not really concerned with how many scholarships we have right now. What we really need are a couple key pieces to keep adding and making us better.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris @DaytonDailyNews.com