Now that the NCAA is about to conclude their season of Men’s and Women’s Basketball and a National Champion will be crowned, the recruiting process never ends for coaches and their staffs. The Alumni and administration like the notoriety that comes along with winning. In winning comes a lot of pressure on coaches to get the best that they feel meets those expectations. Unfortunately for many it does not work out that way. Sometimes going after young women and men basketball players because they are ranked by certain website services could be a big mistake.
Too often young players have too many people in their ears telling them that they are better than what they really are. So when they arrive on campuses with an ego larger than life and all of a sudden what they thought would happen does not pan out, they look to transfer. Last year there were over 450 college athletes that transferred.
Many will ask the question as to What happened?
Some will say that the coach promise them a starting position and when that did not happen, they will say that the coach lied to the athlete. Perhaps that could be true, but what if someone else happen to be better? Some will say that the kid got home sick. That could be, but what happen when they went to visit the school on their official or unofficial visit? Did the school all of a sudden change distances when they arrive? Some will say that the coach did not like them. Did the coach not like the student athlete when they offered them a scholarship? If so, did the kid and parents not notice that during the recruitment.
Some will say that they should have been recruited by a much larger school; so they believe that they are doing the school that they are at a favor and tend to put in less effort which usually leads to a termination at some point. Some believe that they should attend a school that plays on television a lot as if that validates their status. Some attend schools that they are not socially or academically ready for which can cause a feeling of dismay. Example is a kid that may accept a scholarship to play in the ACC or SEC but in reality they may have had a better career and had more fun playing in another conference. What normally happens in this situation is when it does not pan out early the schools tend to recruit over them in a year or two. Keep in mind that every player was either All State, McDonalds All American Nominees, Players of the years etc…
The more hyped up a player is, the more likely they are to leave after a year if they do not play right away. The higher one goes up the more cut throat it becomes because of the enormous amount of pressure it is for coaches to win and win early. Many times a coach will take a chance on a taller player especially if she is a female basketball player, irregardless of whether the player is good or not in hopes that it pans out because they could not get the player that they really wanted. That is a harsh reality but its the truth. So now the moment of truth is arriving for many student athletes from this period on and hopefully not too many kids are passing up on schools that may not have the big name for schools that makes good press.
This is where parents must really step in and really find out what schools really wants their kid as a student athlete based on their character as well as their basketball skills. Parents and student athletes must avoid the hype or they could easily become a victim of the 450 transfers and rising that has already happen and is rising.
That leaves the questions as to “Why do kids leave”? or “Why do they not pan out”?
I agree with this article because it touches a lot of areas that are true. Kids too often forget the academics and forget that scholarships are year to year.
So appropriate and couldn’t have come at a better time. This is also applicable at the high school basketball level as well as summer basketball. We are seeing more and more local private and prep schools “recruit” top players to make their programs the best and those same coaches in turn have relationships with AAU programs that they feed their players into to get the same outcome. Unfortunately, no one seems to care if it’s the best fit for the student athlete and if he will grow as a player. Parents have to do a better job of making sure the kid is being put in the best environment for them and not be so concerned about the name on the front of the jersey.
Each player and parent needs to seriously ask themselves is my kid comfort with sitting 1 or 2 years waiting for their chance in the spotlight. The better the program the more likely they could end up in this situation. With the exception of the few “elite” players, everyone else will experience this issue to some degree. Most of these players have never had to sit behind anyone since they were 12 years old. I have also seen many kids go to a school without even seeing a practice or game with a coach in a live situation. I would highly suggest going to a live game/practice and watch the head/assistant coach(s) and how players react from the starters to the last player on the bench. Talk to several players from the starters to the bench and not just the players put in front of you by the coach. Unless you truly believe you have a career coming that includes playing basketball, I would suggest a route such as: select your coach first (aka style, type of offense/defense), potential team situation second (aka similar players), school/city third, and finally (be honest) ask yourself if you could have fun and play with and for each of those pieces.
A lot of players believe that they are high major when their skill set does not warrant such.
These are the type of topics that needs to be posted on these boards because it tells the truth. Too many times too many athletes believe that they are really high on the totem poll because someone ranked them there or that they play for a particular school whether its public or private. Some kids are better off going to a division two school. Some time a kid is too hyped up by the local media whether they are male or female when their productivity does not warrant such. Some highschools have connections and they use it to make sure that a particular player plays in all the post season activities
even if someone may have had a better season and might not be going to a major school that they consider major.
Great article. I know kids who would walk the dogs on some of the bigger name kids but because their high school teams aren’t playing in big name tournaments or they play on a aau team who is not one of the big dogs and aren’t given a chance to beat those teams. If you notice the big name teams will always make it to the finals of aau tournaments because the organizer wants to have them back and the team brings a large crowd with them. Now grant it, some of those teams are very good but there are players out here who can roll the dice with any of them if given a fair chance. The McLean kid from High Point, the Stepp kid from NC Cpurt Kings, the Mayhan kid from the Court Kings from last year (don’t know who he is playing with this year) Phifer kids from NC Gaters last year, kids from the Va Thunder. It’s talent out there, but unknown because half of them haven’t reclass or not with big name teams.