2017 Recruiting Notes

I mean, Jaron Faulds is ranked a 4 star, which is absolutely nuts IMO. I love ESPN rankings in general, but there are some eyepoppers in this edition for sure.

This is why 247ā€™s composite rankings are the best tool. There will be outliers in anyoneā€™s top 100, top 250, etc. rankings. Picking the ā€˜bestā€™ rankings is only going to lead to biases and by pulling a few together you get the most accurate picture.

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I disagree, 247 composite is ridiculous as well. I mean is Isaiah Livers the #76 composite while Jamal Cain is #196? Thatā€™s laughable. Bottom line is that the composite weights unranked databases too much, and it skews a playerā€™s true ranking range IMO

I think after reviewing film (which you have), you probably agree that if anything, there is a 100 spot gap between Cain and Livers in the other direction.

Iā€™d also add that 247 only considers Rivals, ESPN, Scout, and their own database. If you take into account other recruiting services such as F150, Hoopseen, youā€™d have a larger sample size and probably a better barometer because outliers/not in database wouldnā€™t be as influential.

Davison isnā€™t in their data base either, and his team went 14-2 and has Trent which should have guaranteed a live look. He was eleventh out of over four hundred kids in the eybl efficiency ratings and isnā€™t in the data base? Explain that one.

Yeah, ESPN lost a bit of credibility on this one IMO. Curious to see what they do post-July. I guess now that Iā€™m more well informed and have scouted basically all of these kids, the mis-rankings are very obvious and pronounced to me.

Yeah, nothing is going to be perfect, especially for any one player and in this case we both agree that Jamal Cain is underranked. But that doesnā€™t mean it isnā€™t the most objective system to fight through the noise to rank kids.

In this case, Cain is n/r by ESPN and Scout so heā€™s not going to have a great 247Sports Composite. Thatā€™s where the disagreement is, not with 247ā€™s system which is just reporting that.

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Brian Bowen ahead of Trae Young and Jaren Jackson is a joke as well.

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No, actually heā€™s #70 per Rivals and a generic 3star to Scout. Itā€™s the ESPN non-eval that is killing him in terms of composite

Yes, sorry meant ESPN and Scout. Heā€™s rated like a generic three-star by 247/Scout and 247 Composite.

I do acknowledge it is tough though to view all players live, but if anyone has the resources its ESPN.

As I was reading the recent posts in this thread, I was thinking of a counter to this last point. I have a theory that high school basketball scouting is probably one of the many areas ESPN (and the whole Disney empire) might be trying to cut costs. They just might not have as many people out there scouting as they used to.

Did some more digging on the ESPN updated rankings, and just as I thought, they simply havenā€™t bothered to either view or update certain players. I looked at Donnieā€™s ESPN page, and it hasnā€™t been updated since September 2015. Bottom line is that they simply havenā€™t been to enough events live, and are probably relying on second hand reports for a decent portion of their analysis.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/207901/donnie-tillman

That has clearly been the case for a couple years. Ever since they got rid of their team-specific sites theyā€™ve been massively cutting costs in recruiting. They should not even be apart of the composite anymore IMO.

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So Bowen is visiting again? I imagine heā€™d HAVE to get an offer this time, right?

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Ranking are so tough. There isnā€™t a single recruiting site that has seen every possible kid and a lot of that has to do with so many kids, so many sneaker/non-sneaker tourneys, etc. They could just make it easier by just evaluating each kid with a 5 star to a 1 star. Tom Konchalski (NYC guy, if you donā€™t know and one of the most, if not the most respected name in the business) does something similar to this with his report.

Cain clearly deserves to be ranked. I donā€™t think Davison should be ranked even with his play this spring. Iā€™ve seen him too many times (could have jaded me) with his HS team to think he is a top 100 kid in the country. Iā€™m sure there are many others as well. The system is flawed, just like anything else in recruiting is but we have to live with it and itā€™s a good reference point for discussion.

Thank goodness there are people like you, MattD, and others on this board that have the ability to self scout and donā€™t do their player analysis off of the 247 composite.

I guess I donā€™t see how young could possibly have gone down.Seems odd. Figured heā€™d rise

Wilkes also visiting OSU.
https://twitter.com/ZachOsterman/status/740390713075109888

Scout just updated their rankings. A few stood out.
http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/story/1676725-updated-2017-top-100

Kris Wilkes #16
Brian Bowen #17
Jaren Jackson #21
Kyle young #78
Jordan Poole #99
Jamal Cain #137

Thanks. Are these services referenced by MattD any good with rankings? Any others? How is 247ā€™s own rankings compared to other services?