The late Jim Valvano (NC State national champion coach) once said that the three most important things about coaching was recruiting, scheduling and recruiting. Wednesday marked the first day of the signing period for high school, prep school and junior college players. The usual schools hauled in most of the top ranked players. NO surprise that Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and the like signed McDonalds All-americans…….But there is something you should know about the rankings of players. With a “so-called” recruiting guru popping up on every corner and rating the ability of players as young as fifth grade it is easy to see why fans get so wrapped up what player is rated the highest….One word of caution, check out who the expert really is. Most times it is someone who has never played nor coached a second of basketball in their life. So next time you get excited about a player you have never seen, but the recruiting expert says he is the next Michael Jordan, check and see who the expert is and if he has even seen the player.
Two recruiting experts I would always listen to are Jerry Mullens of Roundball Report and Tom Konchalski of HSBI. Mr. Mulles covers the Midwest and mostly junior college, while Mr. Knochalski covers the East coast like a warm balnket on cold day.
The next time you get excited about the ranking of your school’s recruiting class remember the following story. A couple of years ago I had lunch with Coach Jim Larranage from George Mason. As we talked about recruiting rankings, he mentioned that the same year that UConn signed Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor their recruiting class was ranked higher (not one NBA player in the Patriots class). He smiled and said, “do you think Jim Calhoun would trade recruits?”
A couple of years later Jim Larranage proved that you don’t have to have any top rated players to go to the Final Four. Oh, and by the way for those who don’t remember, he beat UConn to get there….
When the early signing period ends next week I will give you a coach’s take on who won and lost the first round of the recruiting wars.
