2023 Rankings Update Released (free)
The last update, the class of 2023, is live today,9/28.. This update for the rising sophomore class is always a fun one to do. We have had their full freshman season and despite abnormal circumstances, we have also now have had another AAU season to observe. This class is loaded with talent and the college recruiters are proving that to be true by offering scholarships. Although we have had some movement in the top 10 it is still very early in their careers to know exactly where each player will ultimately end up. Rest assured there is no shortage of high level Power 5 talent in this class. The top of the list, led by Lisa Thompson Lisa Thompson 5'9" | PG Example Academy | 2023 State IL and Jordan Wood Jordan Wood 6'4" | PF Carmel Catholic | 2023 State #15 Nation IL , is already getting multiple Power 5 scholarship offers as mentioned. There are also multiple players pulling mid major offers already. This class will be very exciting by the time they graduate.We have added 38 names to list, expanding from 61 in our first list to 99 in this update.
There are many different ways to do rankings. We have our way and there are no shortage of sites/scouts that have their way. We choose to use college offers as our starting point. There is a reason for this. In almost every case it is almost impossible to suggest that a site/service has seen every player from Northern Chicago area down to Carbondale and deep Southern Illinois and all parts in between. So, how do you rank players without the ability for multiple scouts to see all players and debate who is best? The answer is college offers. College coaches are paid to know who the best players are and it not very often an accident if one player has 5 offers and another has 0. It is not about stats, it is not about head to head competition and it is not about All State recognition.
We will do another ranking update during the season which will allow the recruiting to play out even further. In addition we will have that much more of an opportunity to see these players live again. As always we will hope to use that information to fine tune what we have done here and correct any mistakes that may have been made.
If you have any suggestions please reach out to us. When you do, please, always remember that we have no personal stake in rating one player than another, we are doing our best to provide useful content. Last but not least, if you do reach out, as they say, you will attract more flies with honey rather than vinegar. Keep it positive, please.
If you do not currently subscribe please reach out to me on twitter at @don_halling or Jacob Wohlwend at @prehoopsjacob for a discount code to help with the initial cost. I would also like to recognize and thank the new addition to the Illinois team, Brian Carman, for his help in providing coverage for the Central Illinois girls that have been looking for more exposure. Find Brian on twitter at @CoachCarmanNM. Without further delay, here is the link to the new 2022 rankings.