Class Rankings 101
As many of our readers know, I am solely in charge of updating class rankings from month to month. I’ve always believed in transparency and putting your name on your work. I have tried to always make it clear that…
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Continue ReadingAs many of our readers know, I am solely in charge of updating class rankings from month to month. I’ve always believed in transparency and putting your name on your work. I have tried to always make it clear that these rankings are my opinion and mine alone. I wanted to take some time and share how I do my rankings and what goes into it. I am about to begin a major update and there will be some big changes that may upset some people/organizations. I thought it would be a good idea to share how the whole process works and what I value in players, lets begin.
The Process
The process is actually quite long. It usually takes a full month for me to make my final decisions and multiple hours staring at names on a computer screen. I elicit the help of local high school and club coaches if I feel that they are capable of being unbiased and are truly giving me their best opinion. It is quite obvious when a coach is trying to push a certain agenda for their player or team, those coaches are never consulted again. I consult the coaches that I do trust and there are only a select few of them. I ask them their opinions on certain players, ask them to send in their own rankings to compare, or just have them look over my rankings and give their opinions. After days and days of moving players around and second guessing myself, I submit my rankings to the Prep Hoops IT team and they put it on the website. After that, I usually post an article addressing the moves and changes. I like to express my opinion as to why a certain player may have seen a big rise or fall in the rankings.
Evaluation
When evaluating a player, I am looking at the whole picture. I watch everything the players are doing on the court, from warm ups to how they interact with their teammates and how their mannerisms are on the bench. I assess their skill level based on their play and try to find any possible potential in their game. I very much value potential and more specifically college potential. You can be a dominant high school player and not be a very good college player and these rankings are to assist college coaches in their recruiting after all.
Speaking specifically about skill, these are the things I value in order. These are questions I am asking myself when watching you play:
- Can you play defense?
- How well do you see the floor/teammates?
- Can you score at all 3 levels?
- Is your ball handling good enough to handle pressure/traps?
- Are you ready to play college basketball right now?
Speaking specifically about the mind set part of the game, these are the questions I ask myself when evaluating:
- Can you handle adversity?
- How well are they interacting with their teammates and coach?
- Are they coach-able?
- Do they get easily flustered/emotional?
- Are they a leader?
Ranking Order
Many people have different opinions on player rankings and they are all subjective. Some scouts rank players based off of what they are doing right now or how many offers they have. I value college potential more than anything else. Here are the things I value in order:
- College Potential
- Personal Evaluation
- High School Success
- College Offers
- Awards/Recognition
As you can see, college offers and awards mean the very least to me. When you go to college, no one cares about you being your region player of the year. You’re on a whole new playing field once you reach college. College potential is the number one thing I value most when ranking players. If I can see a clear cut vision of you as a college player, you will be ranked accordingly.
Recommendations
Anyone is entitled to their opinion and I am open to player recommendations. My twitter is open for that very reason and I have had a couple of coaches reach out and say that they feel a certain player should be higher. That is fine, you are more than welcome to do so. I will find time to evaluate that player further and will give you my opinion on the player. This does not mean that I will change their ranking, is it a possibility? Sure. It all depends on how well they play and how much they’ve progressed since I first saw them play. I am happy to give any player their fair shot at being ranked and being seen by college coaches. You are more than welcome to share your opinions or thoughts about my rankings with me but those opinions will not be taken into consideration during the ranking process.
Why We Rank Players
Many people are very critical of scouts and rankings in general and feel that they are unnecessary. I would argue that they are very helpful for players to be discovered by college coaches. College coaches use social media and scouting services to find players to recruit. They can take a quick glance at our rankings and jot down a few names that they need to keep an eye out on rather than taking a trip to Arizona and stopping by each of those players high schools. Rankings are made to assist college coaches in their recruiting process and in turn, this helps the players.
Contact Info
If you do not know where to contact me, my twitter is @CoachDomAZ. You can also follow our company page @PGHArizona on twitter. Private messages are always open for you to share your thoughts, comments, and concerns.
Thank you.