The Truth about Basketball Recruiting
Understanding the nuances of the basketball recruiting process requires a three-dimensional perspective and quite a bit of reverse engineering.
Basketball Recruiting for Top Division I college basketball teams is one of the more popular sports for alumni and collegiate students and fans to follow. Collegiate fans closely follow basketball recruiting.
Take a look at the Zion Williamson recruitment process, and you will see that students at all the major colleges were hoping he would choose their school.
Basketball is unique in that basketball colleges can only have 13 scholarship players in college men’s basketball and 15 in college women’s basketball. This does not mean they can offer 13 scholarships but that they have 13 total.
Given roster limitations such as the number of players leaving, number of juniors, seniors, sophomores, and first-year students, a team may need to find a reason not to renew a player if they feel someone else can help the program.
Basketball Recruited Walk-ons
Additionally, many collegiate programs may have legitimate walk-ons that can play and are deserving of a scholarship. So an athletic department must take all of this into consideration.
There is a wide range of men’s collegiate basketball teams in Division I of the NCAA.
All of the men’s college basketball teams listed also have women’s basketball teams that recruit. In total, 350 basketball college programs recruit and that our members of the 32 Division I college basketball conferences.
Basketball recruiting has grown to an astronomical level of visibility. But the reality is there are still players that don’t get seen. Or end up not playing at the level of their ability, stats, work, and dedication merit.
Basketball recruiting has grown so much now that the most prominent media conglomerates are now part of the basketball recruiting process.
Take ESPN, for example.
ESPN basketball recruiting
Basketball recruiting is now a significant player in player exposure, college placement, and draft position. Espn has a portion of their site that is dedicated to high school basketball news, high school basketball rankings, top 100 high school basketball players, and basketball position rankings.
Additionally, they even have a section dedicated to college transfers. The top players by ranking that are transferring to a different college.
This is an essential aspect of college basketball recruiting. And why you must have at least three schools that you want to get to. Meaning 3 schools that you feel you can play, develop as a person, succeed academically, and thrive in the community.
The Basketball Transfer Portal
The transfer portal is searchable college basketball recruiting database of players. You can search the database by several things: player name, sport, conference, division, school. An administrator, head coach, an assistant coach can search the database by most recent players to enter the college transfer portal and save player names to a “Watch List.”
Each player has what is called a “Transfer Tracer,” where college coaches can find the players, stats, and other data. There are no phone numbers for the prospective college transfer student-athletes, just email addresses contact information.
Who is typically the Contact Person at Each School for Transfer Portal Questions
A college school’s compliance department and one college coach from each sport-specific coaching staff.
Not every basketball assistant coach and head coach have a proper email address; there’s just one email for each basketball coaching staff. Sometimes it’s a generic one; sometimes, it’s specific to one coach.
This is an incredible improvement from the past system. In which a player had to contact schools with the hope that someone would take the call. Often players would be blackballed once the college figured out they wanted to transfer, coaches would block the collegiate basketball recruit from moving and then command him into the doghouse.
Old Basketball Recruiting “Black Hole”
Before the current transfer system, players would often fall into a black hole and find it very challenging to climb out. Coaches can be engaging in that usually they take on the mentality if I can not get him to play, the worst thing I can do is let him transfer, and another basketball coach can get the best out of him or her.
Coaching should be about servant leadership and dedicating oneself to seeing athletes fulfill their dreams and lifelong aspirations.
Great Basketball Quotes from Coaches and Leaders
John Wooden said something to the effect, “I would be happy coaching in high school. I had turned down several colleges while teaching in South Bend near Norte Dame before I went to the military. I believe in my heart if I bever went to the military, I would never have stopped coaching high school.
“Growth is essential, and any organization, system, or person that limits you from growing is not worth being around” John Thompson “Legendary Hoyas Head Coach.”
Basketball Recruiting Terminology
- Oversigning – Basketball programs sign more players then they have available scholarships.
- Quiet period – is a yearly time when the basketball college may not have any person talk with the prospective basketball student-athlete or the parents. The coach cannot watch the athlete play or practice. The basketball student-athlete can visit a college campus during this quiet time.
- Contact – Contact happens any time a coach has any face-to-face contact with a student-athlete or the parents. Even if visiting the college campus, and anyone says more than hello, it is considered “contact.”. Additionally, it is considered if a coach has any contact with the prospective student-athlete or his or her parents at the prospective student athlete’s high school or any location where the prospect is engaging in competition or practice.
- Blue-chip – Five star, top recruits.
Yellow chip – Is the recruiting term used for athletes who are good enough to make a college team but are not blue chips recruits. - Early enrollment – It is considered initial registration when a basketball recruit enrolls at a college during the 3rd quarter or 2nd semester of the collegiate academic calendar year. This time frame is during the athlete’s 2nd semester or 3rd for their high school year. The student-athlete must have completed all education requirements needed to get a diploma, and also meet minimum standards for admission based on the NCAA clearinghouse.
- Grayshirting – This is the strategy of delaying enrollment of a basketball recruit until the second semester/quarter or third quarter of the academic year following the signing of a National Letter of Intent (NLI).
- Basketball recruits will often do this to help the school meet scholarship limitations requirements. Basketball programs may have too many scholarships on the books for that year, requiring them to wait until the next signing year to sign the player.
- Silent commitment – When the student-athlete has committed to play for the basketball program, but has not publicly communicated his intent.
- Verbal commitment – A player has publicly communicated his intent to attend a basketball but has yet to sign the national letter of intent.
- Project/Sleeper/Under the Radar– This defines a basketball recruit that is not currently evaluated as a four o5 start prospect. Sometimes players like this are highly talented but lack experience in the sport.
- One-and-done – A college basketball player that will likely to declare for NBA professional draft after one season.
- Recruited Walk-On – A basketball recruit student/athlete is invited to join the college basketball program but not offered an athletic scholarship. If the player meets academic standards, sometimes admission is more accessible, and thus, players can receive monies on the academic side. In football, non-important position or low turnover players like kickers, are often recruited as walk-ons. College basketball recruit walk-ons may be awarded a scholarship at any time.
Athlete Participation and Non-High School Organizations
Important Basketball Specific Drills
Basketball athletes must start the development program early. In addition to working on shooting, free-throw shooting, dribbling, off-screen work, and basketball understanding. Athletes that want to be recruited to college and beyond must also work shooting from locations on the court such as:
The NBA athletic tests include:
- vertical jump (no steps)
- maximum vertical jump (with steps)
- bench press
- three-quarter-court sprint time
- lane agility time
Physical Combine measurements include:
- height with shoes
- height without shoes
- wingspan
- weight
- standing reach
- body fat
- hand length,
- hand width.
NBA Combine shooting tests include:
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- Spot-up
- off the dribble
- three-point field goals high school, college, and NBA distances
NCAA rules and AAU Recruiting Importance
Basketball Recruiting has two basketball signing periods during this period; basketball athletes can sign national letters of intent.
The early basketball signing period starts on the 2nd Wednesday of November and runs through the 3rd Wednesday of that month.
Basketball players can make their AAU team as their primary team, which has made high school basketball coaches less influential in the basketball recruiting process than their counterpart high school football coaches.
This is has been a good thing in many instances, as high school coaches have ruined or hindered many basketball careers and scholarship opportunities. I am not against high school coaches, but they must think about the athlete and his development when coaching in this day and age.
The standard scholarship signing basketball signing period does not start until the third week and Wednesday of April after high schools have completed the season.
The 2019-20 NCAA basketball recruiting time is in full go. As a result, the opportunity for basketball programs to turn around their program is here for the taking.
Securing a 5-star recruit can change everything.
Basketball Recruiting and Head Coaching Stability
Bob Huggins WVU: Recently, Bob Huggins gave Kansas State the finger and headed for his alma mater West Virginia. He made this decision only one year after professing his faithfulness and dedication to the Kansas State program — and less than two months after promising basketball recruits, he would at least be there to coach them for the 2007-08 season.
Highly touted basketball recruit Micheal Beasley’s mother, Fatima Smith, clutched the MVP trophy at this year’s McDonalds All-Star game and, while posing for pictures, was asked whether her son resents not having the chance to go pro right now.
She responds, “I would love to see him have the opportunity, but he’s going to go to the best coach in the world for my son.”
One of the most critical keys to basketball recruiting is understanding the commitment of the head coach.
A basketball recruit must understand the head coaches standing in the program; this includes his contract status, how long he or she plans on being there, and their overall commitment to the collegiate program and player.
Recruiting a Player Like Zion Williamson – Academics, GPA and Test Scores
Zion Williamson is not only a great player but a well-rounded athlete that is coachable, intelligent and shows excellence in other areas outside of basketball. Duke is one of the more difficult schools to get admitted as they have stringent admission guidelines. Their requirements include:
- GPA = 3.94
- SAT = 1450 or above
- ACT = 35 or above
The test scores are required for admittance. Zion Williamson was able to put himself in a position to be recruited by one of the best coaches of all time because he had the proper academic background needed to go to top tier schools.
The learning is you must do what it takes not only on the court but in the classroom to increase your chances of top tier basketball recruiting universities.
The commitment of the Basketball Recruit and The Haad Coach
Here is an article I wrote almost ten years ago about the great basketball coach is Bob Huggins.
“He still needs some fine-tuning, and he’s going to get it,” Smith said. “Discipline, sportsmanship, character.”
Whoa…Bob Huggins, the model of character and citizenship? Less than 2 1/2 years removed from Cincinnati after drunk driving charges and less than two months excluded after promising Fatima and Micheal Beasly that he would be coaching next year.
Leaving School
A coach leaves a school without losing a year of eligibility, but if an athlete transfers, he automatically loses a year unless moving to a Division I AA or Division II, Division III school. Ah, that’s another discussion…
The question here is loyalty. Quite possibly, the NCAA needs to sanction some forced commitment for coaches or allow players to leave if a coach decides to leave. Now that Beasley has committed to Kansas State it is up to the University whether or not they will allow those players the option to transfer to other schools. It would only be fair given the players chose K-State under the belief that “Huggy Bear” would coach during their time at the college.
In a sport such as a basketball, when coaches, media pundits, and the like are continually criticizing players for lack of teamwork, loyalty, and unselfishness, it’s no wonder so many players have the attitude… “I’m only as loyal as I wanna be.”
The Top Basketball Recruiting College Programs
- Duke (2nd in efficiency, 2nd in tourney)
- Kansas (1st in efficiency, 7th in tourney)
- North Carolina (6th in efficiency, 1st in tourney)
- Kentucky (4th in efficiency, 4th in the tourney)
- Louisville (3rd inefficiency, 6th in the tourney)
Basketball Recruiting Sites
How do you get recruited for college basketball?
1. Create a target list of schools. 2. Gather contact information for college coaches. 3. Start communication with college coaches. 4. Maintain a 3.3 GPA or above 5. Attend summer basketball camps and showcases. 6. Work on your game 7. Spend time in weight room 8. Register with NCAA clearinghouse 9. Visit college campuses and speak with coaches based on NCAA regulations
How does college basketball recruiting work?
Basketball college coaches, scouts, and third party evaluators determine if you have the size, skill, academic criteria and fit for a college their basketball program. If they determine you do base on the star rating system, you will be offered a scholarship to play basketball.
Basketball college coaches, scouts, and third party evaluators determine if you have the size, skill, academic criteria and fit for a college their basketball program. If they determine you do base on the star rating system, you will be offered a scholarship to play basketball.
How much is a Division 1 scholarship worth?
Colleges and universities award an estimated $3 billion in athletic scholarships per year. They are often partial scholarships with the average money awarded to NCAA Division 1 athlete was $13,821 for men and $14,660 for women.
Colleges and universities award an estimated $3 billion in athletic scholarships per year. They are often partial scholarships with the average money awarded to NCAA Division 1 athlete was $13,821 for men and $14,660 for women.
Which men's NCAA sports are the easiest to get a scholarship?
Lacrosse Soccer
Lacrosse Soccer
What college basketball team has the best recruiting class?
1. Kentucky 2. Duke 3. North Carolina 4. Tennessee 5. Michigan
1. Kentucky 2. Duke 3. North Carolina 4. Tennessee 5. Michigan