Blue Star Basketball

Well here we are on the day where fax machines & scouting services seem to get more attention than any other time of the year

As I discussed last year this formula was created by myself, Mike, Kevin and our Blue Star team of consultants.  As we are awaiting to hear of more final commitments please email me directly if you have updates.  Presently you can go to the ‘blue star report’ section off of our homepage and then go to ‘Commitments By School” to see if we have all of the college’s commitments correct and updated.

Also remember – to bring in 5, 6, 7+ players is a lot of work, especially when you factor in trying to acquire quality. Gone are the days where if you sign one player, even if she is a Top 10 player that it would get you a Top 10 ‘class’ in the country. One player doesn’t make a ‘class’.

Below you will find the recruiting class breakdown for 2010 based on the information gathered thus far (11am – 6/9/10)   Following Shoni Schimmel’s commitment to Louisville .  Enjoy -

1. Duke
2. Connecticut
3. Louisville
4. Maryland
5. Kentucky
6. Florida State
7. Oklahoma
8. Stanford
9. California
10. Syracuse
11. Florida
12. Vanderbilt
13. USC
14. Texas
15. Auburn
16. Boston College
17. Notre Dame
18. Oklahoma State
19. Georgia
20. Miami (FL)
21. Alabama
22. Penn State
23. Virginia
24. Ohio State
25. Tennessee
26. Xavier
27. Louisiana State
28. Kansas
29. Texas A&M
30. Mississippi
31. Seton Hall
32. Virginia Tech
33. Georgia Tech
34. Minnesota
35. UCLA
36. Michigan State
37. Illinois
38. Baylor
39. Middle Tennessee State
40. Providence
41. Wake Forest
42. Texas Tech
43. Purdue
44. Kansas State
46. Richmond
47. Duquesne
48. Northwestern
49. Washington
50. Charlotte

Honorable Mentions:  Creighton, Wisconsin, Tennessee-Martin, Georgetown, North Carolina State, Marquette, West Virginia, Arizona, DePaul, St. John’s, UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Colorado, Arizona, UNLV, South Carolina, Kansas State,

Below is the point breakdown that we use. As we await the final word on where some of the last few BIG “dominoes’ to fall you can see how it can impact and slide different programs up and down the list.

#1-5 player = 15 points, #6-10 = 14 points, #11-15 = 13pts, #16-20 =12 pts, #21-30 = 11pts, #31-40 =10pts, #41-60 =9pts, #61-80 -= 8pts, #81-100 = 7pts, #100-120=6pts, #121-150=5pts, #151-200=4pts, #201-250 3pts, #251+ 2pts. If players sign with a program that we did not have within our system then they get 1pt. If we had them in our system as a mid-major or major D1 prospect = 2pts, if evaluated as Low D1/D2/D3 level = 1pt.

I know I have neglected my ‘duties’ posting on here.  Again as I always joke with Mike – I went to college for business because I didn’t enjoy writing

After a ground breaking meeting for YB21 in Las Vegas, and the best fall event series of events in USJN/Blue Star history (has over 300 college coaches attend our events in the only weekend of the fall)  It was my first time coordinating/scheduling/etc all 7 of our events – survival would be the best way to describe it

I wanted to make you all aware that if you want to go to www.stmsabers.com (under the News area)  I am writing dialogue to my players/parents back at my high school as I am watching 17 different Division I practices in a 10 day span.

As the signing period being just around the corner – I will be doing our annual college recruiting class rankings again – if anyone hears of new commitments please pass those on to me at my email address, as we post them in our “Commitment Corner” for all college levels.

More to come…

I was 3 years removed from the WBCA convention after being a regular in attendance for nearly 8 straight years.  I chose to pass on attending the first couple of years after leaving the Illini as I knew all I would get was, “Do you miss it?,  Do you want to get back?”  As I had hoped those questions were only brought up a few times now since some time has passed.I am a big believer of the WBCA convention for young coaches.  It provided me two of my jobs along my career.  While visiting at my very first WBCA convention as an asst. at Brown Univ. I had the chance to meet the asst. coach at St. Bonaventure (Jim Crowley – who is now the head coach & was named A-10 coach of the year – great job JC!)  and I met Jenny Yopp – then head coach at Portland State Univ.  The Bonnies ended up hiring me shortly after that convention.  Coach Yopp was hired at Illinois State that year, and then three years later hires me out to the Midwest on her staff.

Back when there was a lot more structured social gathers (ex. WNBA party, Converse party, etc) Crowley used to call me ‘the mayor’ as I would just spend the night circling the room shaking hands and meeting new people in the various parts of the country at all levels.  All I can say is – you can get as much or as little out of the WBCA conventions as you like – there is a lot to learn & so many great and knowledgeable teachers there willing to share. Toward the end of my college time I had the good fortune to actually present at the roundtables – once on recruiting correspondence & the other on my rebounding system.

This year Blue Star / USJN set up a booth for the first time ever AND we received a very pleasing welcome from so many.  As Diane Nolan said to me “who would have thought that Blue Star could become the good guys in all of this”… well I can’t say that we have solved everything and mended all bridges, but I think everyone sees our upgrades & improvements over the last few years.

Mike came in for the first day so we had a chance to catch up, talk business, and socialize with past players of his & various college coaches from across the country.  Saturday & Sunday I manned the booth from 9am til 5pm.  The ladies next door to our booth were cute, as they gave me a bag of M&M’s around 3pm saying how they hadn’t seen me leave my area all day – I’m thinking to myself ‘this is easy compared to sitting in a gym all day recruiting players – eating is always the last priority’

Saturday night went and supported Tom Jenkins / Dan Olsen social gathering at J. Bucks – was a nice crowd & was able to catch up with some old faces & met some new ones.  The more I kept walking around though I realized how just being away 3 years I have definitely been removed from the new young up-coming assistants that are just starting their careers.  Seemed as though the mid majors and higher staffs pretty much had a prior relationship with; but I have no clue on many of the young ones.

Sunday – had a great meeting with Willette White (former asst. at Univ. of Oregon) and happy to announce her becoming part of our Blue Star family. Headed over for another full day in the booth, and then went straight over to the game.  Was actually very quiet as I sat by myself in the first row of the 2nd tier (how quickly the quality of your ticket changes when you are no longer of Division I status in the WBCA’s eyes )  Watched the Louisville / Oklahoma game & all I can say is Walz could probably motivate a turtle to run a 100 yard dash. I headed back to the hotel & got back in time to put the UConn/Stanford game on … just felt it was a forgone conclusion & I always like to hear what Geno has to say at halftime/end of game (I have used one before w/ local newspaper (gave him credit of course))

Monday – Got up early and was juggling meetings – as I attended the Division I Business Meeting (if you are at the Division I level and you don’t attend this meeting – shame on you as this is the one that changes your livelihood) & was trying to attend the Division II meeting. While sneaking in and out of the two meetings I catch Michael Landers head of the Junior College meeting and he asks me to stop in there to speak to all of the coaches in attendance at that level.

I felt bad as during all of my running around I was a little delayed in my timing when some of the recruiting reform discussion occurred at the Division I meeting. I know that they had one to be voted by the group to get rid of the Fall viewing period and potentially to add a week in the spring (either in April or May). As asked by a couple of members running the meeting I stepped up and gave the ballroom of coaches some thoughts to consider. 1) if you continue to trim recruiting days down from the 26 days that they presently have to find players outside of the high school season they are going to become even more dependent on scouting services to help them find the young talent out there (13/14/15 & younger) 2) that another weekend in April would only cause the same problems that they already have – too many events & not enough coaches to see everything. What I did recommend was a 2^nd weekend for ONLY unsigned seniors – this way college’s that have already received all of their senior commitments/signings do not feel guilty about not going out on the road, and those that still are looking for potential prospects have a chance to find them & prospects another chance to be found.

The voting came back in the afternoon and the Fall period is staying alive as 80% voted to keep it , and I was pleased to see the idea of an Unsigned Senior weekend received a 50+% in favor. Has to get to 75% for them to present to the NCAA but at least it is a step in the right direction.

I headed back for home & finishing up the Windy City Classic schedule/pools & have to get all of our evaluators ready for the following week’s events to cover. Got home to watch UConn collect another undefeated title season. I have only been involved in the game for 15 years, but this was the best team that I have ever watched cruise thru a season. What was more impressive was how little depth Geno had to make it happen. I had the chance to work his camps for a couple of summers early in my career and meet/played against Rizzotti/Lobo/Sayles/Elliott/Walters era (their first undefeated team) & to see the level of excellence continuing in Storrs is a truly amazing accomplishment. Don’t overlook the loyalty of Chris Daley as she has been there by his side from the beginning…. what’s the old saying… behind every good man there is a great woman

And as far as the major conference job opening up – I wish I could say I was going to be wrong, but it is going to be announced that USC’s coach will be stepping down, and got wind that Loyola-Chicago should be announcing in the coming days.  It has been a slow ‘carousel’, making the job market as competitive as ever with so few options out there.  We will be doing our best to keep track of all of the job changes on our site – hope you enjoy.

Well I know it has been some time since my last (first blog)  It has been flattering to receive the emails asking me when I would get back on here, so I appreciate all of your support and interest in the game.  

I’m presently on a plane back from the McDonald’s All-American game down in Miami and re-pack and will drive down to St. Louis for the Women’s Final Four & WBCA convention.  Mike thought I should share some of my observations from the past couple of days, as it really is an honor to be part of such a process (my second year).  To sit in a room w/ the likes of Morgan Wooten who started the game & hear feedback from the ‘powers that be’ about the process & the event really was humbling.  In those situations you just want to be ‘scene not heard’ as the new kid on the block.

I was fortunate to get the opportunity to work around the likes of Jill Hutchinson & Theresa Grentz – two women that helped lay the ground work for the game of women’s basketball & it really gave me an appreciation for the history of the game.  I can remember first time sitting with Theresa and there’s Jody Conradt, and Marsha Sharp and some of the founding coaches of the game and just ‘soaking/ up’ the stories/conversations/knowledge of the game.  On some levels this experience was very similar – listening to those that have created the McDonald’s game.  The biggest note I guess I would say from the whole thing without getting in to detail – they are happy with the overall process/breakdown and have ‘been doing it for 30+ years this way and it works”, and as the night went on I would have to agree.

It is a long week for the players as I actually ended up on one of my flights next to one of the participants.  I only hope all of the girls there have the same perspective as this future Pac-10 player on the experience. “Soak it up”  Be proud of your accomplishments, but know that there is more work ahead once you start up on your college campuses in a few months.

As for the game itself – was great to see Dave Power & Derril Kipp back together on the sidelines (always looking dapper when they pull out the suits).  Two of the ‘godfathers’ of grassroots basketball in the Chicagoland area, and in the twilights of their coaching careers to be a part of this event & McDonalds to pay them their ‘respects’ was very classy.  Power’s love for the game & developing players is evident whenever you talk to him, and Derril has been teaching the game to young women, long before I ever even new what a basketball was.  Being based out in the Midwest now for nearly 10 years now, these guys fit in to that be ‘scene not heard’ group, as I know I am thankful for them ‘plowing the road’ for the girls game in this region.

I personally think that ‘newbies’ to the game want to hear themselves talk more than listening to those that were there & have paved the way for all of us to enjoy what the girls’ game has become.  I know I was brought up to respect my elders no matter how I might personally feel/think publicly.  In an age where everyone has an opinion & wants to tell you – sometimes it is OK to keep your opinions to yourself.  Especially when dealing with those that have laid the foundation for what the girls’ game of basketball has become at all levels.  Shame on anyone that wants to publicly ‘bash’ any of those that have put the time in…. if I can take a term from the NCAA men’s selection show that stuck with me “it’s your full body of work”…..  Those that get the ‘old school’ label that were there in the trenches making this great game – you’ll never here anything but public praise from me & this organization.  As for the ‘newbies’, just remember you don’t always have to build a better mouse trap.  

OK… got off my “‘mini soapbox”  …… As the game was coming to a close and looking at stat lines, flow of the game it was really hard to find a ‘clear cut’ MVP – no one player had double figures til nearly 12 minutes left in the game, and in the end the West had 4 or 5 players with either 10 or 11 points.  There was nice steady flow with solid substitutions, & it looked as though the biggest excitement and talk was going to be Kelsey Bone’s commitment to South Carolina.  That was until around the 6 minute mark Skylar Diggins truly emerged.  She kicked it in & “made the game” (so I was told by longer standing men’s committee members) in to one of the more exciting endings for the girls game ever.  I’m sitting there thinking – whether the East comes back to win or not Skylar needs to be the MVP.  Kelly Farris missed a late Free Throws that would have sent it in to overtime and the West squeezed out the one point victory.  I still would put my $ on Kelly to make those FTs when she is at UConn.  If you have a true appreciation for the game then you appreciate what Kelly she brings to the basketball floor as I have always been a fan.  So to see the Co-MVP at the end of game being named to Diggins & Ruffin-Pratt (had double figures & the highlight assist of the event), shows that McDonald’s sees the big picture.

Couple of sidebars from the trip……

Had a chance to see the Nike travel team coach out of Detroit: Emez Oliver & the ‘godfather’ of the Detroit area William Winfield (MLK).  As you go thru your time in this profession people are always telling you ‘you have to see this kid’ or ‘this kid can play you need to go see her’ and if you are a young college coach hopefully you are smart to keep track of these people as to who becomes the ‘boy who cried wolf’ or those that you can trust as I know I built a contact database of nearly 3,000 by the time I left Illinois earmarking past players & their ‘eye’.  Coach Oliver shared w/ me a freshmen that is “Turaisi esk” a so you are hearing this name here first Madison Ristovski – if you like European style basketball apparently this one will take care of your fix.  Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see her on the court somewhere this summer to put a face/game with the name.

Saw Skylar’s family, and they reminded me of the story of how I was one of the first coach’s to recruit her – watching her 8^th grade games over in South Bend, and her coming to a U. of Illinois game where she was so fortunate to catch a t-shirt being thrown out by the cheerleaders during the game.  She was thinking orange/blue for at least one year of her basketball career  Very kind words, just a great group and a class act – they have brought up a fine young woman that represents what this game is all about.  It has been fun to watch her still have the same passion for the game/competition that she did at such a young age.

Got wind that another major head coaching position may be opening up in the very near future, as if it comes to fruition it will be hard to see this hard working group be asked to step down after putting a few solid classes together.

I can’t guarantee I will have time to put together a blog after the Final Four, but Mike is ‘nudging’ me to try to do this a little more often…. I will do my best as our USJN’s Windy City Classic for the April college recruiting period has reached 184 teams – so needless to say I have a little work ahead of me.  I am posting two at the same time right now as he had asked me to put some thoughts together from my past high school season as he thought some of you would get as much a laugh over some of it as we both did.

As many of you aren’t aware I coach a high school team in Champaign, IL – small school level.  I definitely laugh more than I yell & the experience there with them has made me remember why I started coaching nearly 16 years ago as a sophomore in college.  During the course of the past few seasons I would laugh with Mike about some of the stupid ‘poop’ (if I can steal Charli Turner-Thorne’s coin of phrase) that I would see, and saying to myself “does this happen everywhere at this level?”  So I thought I would put down some of the things I have noticed since going to the high school level after 11 years in the college game.

#1 – PLAY TO WIN?  I had a team going in to the ‘stall’ against us when THEY were down 12 in the early part of the 2^nd quarter.  OK those that know me know the two things I preach in my teaching are how to compete & how to handle adversity, and this action totally violates the whole reason why I enjoy teaching this game.  So this team’s coach obviously told his kids we don’t want to get beat too bad so lets just hold the ball so they don’t run up the score on us too bad (if any of my opposing coaches read this:  Don’t worry I don’t full court press after being up 30+ in the first half & 20+ in the 4^th quarter – that’s a whole nother topic).  

#2 – CHECKERS or CHESS?   If you are getting killed at half time don’t you at least try a different defense?  I joke with my assistant coaches that if “when you become head coaches someday that if you ever go in to a half and you are down by 25+ you had better come out in some form of different scheme, or just go ahead and take me off as a reference”   More of the same will continue to get you more of the same in the 2^nd half.  MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT.  Some nights I feel like I’m in a checker match, when I’m ready for chess. :-/  I love playing other ranked teams & competing and having to make changes to help put our team in a position to be most successful – give me some mental stimulus on the sideline.  I often say I have our program press & fastbreak on made’s & misses so that I won’t fall asleep on the sidelines, as the normal pace of play for small school basketball here in Illinois could put you in a comma if you stare at it for too long.

#3 – A GOOD OFFENSE CAN BEAT A GOOD DEFENSE?  Yeah I know, I know – this goes against anything any of use that have worked at a high level in basketball.  Well what I quickly learned coming to this level – there aren’t many offensive skilled players on a lot of teams.  And because the general atheism as a whole is not high there really isn’t ‘suffocating defenses’ – we aren’t seeing Bolingbrook High School or Whitney Young High School on a regular basis in downstate Illinois.  That being said – if you can have 5 players out on the floor at all times that can be ready to shoot & score the other team normally has a weak link – find it and expose it.

#4 – STALL BALL IS NOT BASKETBALL.  All of you old school believers that think this is true tactic are still watching Hoosiers and working on your running one leg jumper “Lord I apologize”  Our sport is BASKETBALL not KEEP AWAY.  So instead of teaching our kids how to dribble / pass / shoot we teach they them how to pass without a true offensive purpose other than to keep the other team for getting the ball or dribble in circles.  And we wonder why overseas is catching up to us in their basketball ability – they are running shot clocks at the pre-middle school age.  Is there still a place for “the stall” in the early/mid 4^th quarter & beyond or for last MINUTE shots – absolutely.  But anyone that does it in the 1^st/2^nd/3^rd quarter definitely does not have teaching their players what this game is really about at the top of their list.

#5 – EXPECT OFFICIALS TO BE BAD.  Seriously why waste the energy – expect them to be bad.  You need to lower your expectations.  It isn’t always the officials fault that your team commits 20 fouls in a half.  Maybe it is because you are trying to play a man to man defense with lesser athletes against a quicker team and can’t physically keep a girl in front of them off the dribble.  Line of the year by an official:  My team was up 20+ in the 4^th quarter, and there was an obviously travel but he let it go, and joked with him that I knew the game was over but for him not to leave too early with a smile and he replied “It is bench time Chris, I’m not going to call that – I was one of those 2^nd stringers I needed all the help I could get when I was out there”  - Definitely Laughing More Than Yelling.
 

#6 – WHO’S MEMORIES ARE YOU TRYING TO CREATE?  Are you doing this for your own, or are you doing this for your players?  Ultimately these are their memories,  if they want to work hard and become better then they will have great memories as a senior/junior, if they don’t then they can look in the mirror and they can find the reason why they didn’t get to hang a banner.  My program’s motto is “EARN THE RIGHT TO WIN”  think this is self explanatory.  As a coach it is our job to try to bring the most out of them, but at a certain point at this level you can’t go running down the hallways and drag them in to the gym.  If they don’t want it then, you will lose ball games – not because you are a bad coach but because your players choose to not put the time in to try to achieve greatness.  If anything you just have to assess yourself on the motivational piece of coaching not the X&O’s.  As I joking say often – “I feel like a mad chemist out there more than a coach”  It is more finding what are their motivating factors and trying to use them to get them to embrace the program, their game, and their teammates.  

#7 –MOLDING YOUNG MINDS.  I had a freshmen come in my first year that didn’t know the word assist or defense in her vocabulary – but she had a competitive spirit & swagger on the court.  I’ll never forget her come down in transition after a steal and pull from the 3pt line with no defense in front of her.  I thought “this kid has some guts”.  She was a ‘black hole’ when she touched the ball, we had plenty of ‘Come to Jesus” meetings telling her the ways of becoming a true teammate & understanding that an assist is a good thing in the statistic column.  By the time she was a senior this year – she was voted a captain by her peers and 2^nd team all-conference.  More importantly she received a scholarship at a Division I school in the sport of golf.  To watch a player & young athlete mature before your eyes is truly remarkable.  She is a young lady that is going to be successful in life.  As coaches ask yourself THAT question – have I helped them gain tools to be successful in life?

(Handle adversity, lead peers, communicate with their ‘boss’,  and embrace competition not cower to it)  If you have helped teach just some of those lessons (as coaches we can’t do it all by ourselves) and you see that transformation on their outlooks – they are taking one big step towards having a great life.

#8 – “I’M THE SHOW TONIGHT”  If you are an official reading this – most good officials all know the line – “I feel like I’ve done a good job if no one noticed me tonight”  Well I’m here to tell you that I was thrown out of a high school game during my time at this level.  At the beginning of a game (as I learned afterward) and official ask the PA Announcer (who was the opposing teams Athletic Director unbeknownst to him) “Be sure you say our names correctly because WE are the show tonight”…. Are you kidding me!!  The AD shared this with me when he was apologizing to me when I was in the locker room watching my team squeak out a win with me trying to relay substitutions/plays to my staff by every means necessary (my wife, Morse Code, carrier pigeon    I won’t get in to all the details but this give you a taste.  My scorekeeper who is a father and one of the most upstanding people/businessman in Champaign chuckled (not full blown laugh out loud) at a foul call as the official comes over to report the foul to him.  The official warns him and states ‘are you laughing at my call?” and he replies “actually I was”.  Fair enough – at this point come to my bench area and either make your formal warning on the scorekeeper or ask me to have him replaced.  Oh no…. this guy got the spotlight and went straight to the ‘your out of here’ and threw him out of the gym….. Are you kidding me!!!  Never spoke to me to tell me what he was going… next think I know this great man in our community is being escorted out.

As the game progresses, I’m riding them a little and gave the the old sideline standby “your going to call it on this end then you better call it on the other end”…. TECHNICAL FOUL  (now I’m going to go in to this at the very end on my thoughts about this)….. and as he is going to the table I state obviously animated “that was it, THAT got me a technical….. YOUR SOFT!” as I pivot to sit myself down on the bench (IL state rules have to sit rest of the game) and literally as I was sitting down he gave me the 2^nd and tossed me….. Are you kidding me!!!   I seriously felt like I was in BASKETBALL BIZARRO world!??!?!  I had never watched anything like this unfold at any level.  So our boy definitely got to be ‘the show’ for that night, and if you don’t use moments like this to teach your players about adversity & fighting thru it then you are wasting a valuable teachable moment.

#9  WARNING SIGN?   I guess the last note is more for any officials that read this that I have been trying to talk to our state about putting in to some form of rule.  There needs to be guideline BEFORE a technical can be given that there must be a formal warning to the coach, with the exception of foul language being used at the official (that should warrant immediate).  Here is my point and logic – officials are human.. they are coming from their jobs, families, or other outside situations – they may have had a bad day as we all know our ‘fuse’ can be shorter on some days more than others as to what will ‘set us off’ and what won’t.  THIS type of ruling would solve that problem.  At least as a coach on the sideline we would know early on how much an official would be willing to ‘take’… if he warns you early at least u know not to mess with him & if you do you are doing it at your own risk.  Or others enjoy a little banter, and understand it is part of the game.  Then you don’t have those… THAT got me a technical foul?  As I said to one official that gave me a T – “I’ve said worse things to lot better people… that got me a technical?”  After going thru that experience of where basically the game that I had given my life to was treated with such little regard and the main focus of high school athletics (it is about the players on the floor not all of us) totally forgotten and there was nothing anyone could do about it in the moment.  Unfortunately for an ambitious official that is trying to be promoted and ‘move up’ in level or within their own state that part of the game is incredibly hard – think about in most other walks of employment that your actions create praise/notoriety to help you “climb the corporate ladder” (as I’m typing this I’m thinking of Donkey in the movie Shrek “Look at me, look at me, look at me” ).  As an official it is nearly the opposite – you need to not be noticed, to be noticed.  I guess I would say to ambitious officials (as I have been asked by a few) would be to talk to some of the veteran or respected coaches that you are officiating games for BEFORE the game & make them aware of your desire to ‘perfect your craft’ (some states do a rating system of officials after games as IL does so this helps create a conversation).

I know some of this may be hard to fathom…. I promise – it is not an April Fool’s…. welcome to my new world

I know many of you have been giving me a hard time about not getting on here and joining in on the BLOG w/ Mike, but trying to juggle Blue Star, USJN, my full-time high school job, and coaching my high school team – well lets just say that I haven’t been able to squeeze THIS in to my routine. Though I will try to get more involved with this in the coming months.

I felt I should start my BLOG on our site w/ what more appropriate day, but SIGNING DAY. Fax machines all over the women’s basketball community will get more attention today than probably any other. As this day is the culmination of so many staffs’ blood, sweat & definitely tears, and in many cases the tracking, writing, emailing, calling, ‘baby-sitting’, stressing, etc. will finally slow down (at least for this class).

I’m now heading in to my 4^th year with Mike Flynn / Blue Star/USJN after 11 years on the college side at various levels. I finally was able to get an idea of how ‘this side’ operates after the first couple of years. After having some ‘friends’ within the business ask me “come on Chris, help me out how do I get a Top 20 recruiting class?”, and my reply was always “Sign better players”   I realized then that i needed to lean on some close friends w/in the college community, combined w/ Mike’s experience, to find a way to make the process of coming up with the annual COLLEGE RECRUITING CLASS RANKINGS a little more uniformed.

Here is what we came up with and feel confident after seeing how it broke down last year & in years past, this does provide a pretty fair breakdown. The part as a former college recruiter that I like about our formula is that it rewards those programs that are signing large classes. Having to bring in 5, 6, 7+ players is a daunting task, especially when quality is just as important as quantity. Gone are the days where if you sign one player, even if she is a Top 10 player that it would get you a Top 10 ‘class’ in the country. One player doesn’t make a ‘class’.

Below you will find the recruiting class breakdown for 2008 based on the information gathered over the past 48hrs from across the country. I will be updating the list and will refresh the listing as we gather more player commitments. Enjoy -

1. California
2. Baylor
3. Virginia
4. North Carolina
5. Illinois
6. Georgia
7. South Carolina
8. Ohio State
9. Penn State
10. Vanderbilt
11. Northwestern
12. Texas Tech
13. St. John’s
13. UCLA
14. Tennessee
15. Texas A&M
16. Georgetown
17. Louisville
18. Maryland
19. Auburn
20. South Florida
21. Oklahoma State
22. Kentucky
23. Notre Dame
24. Texas
25. West Virginia
26. Purdue
27. Syracuse
28. Stanford
29. Duke
30. Iowa State
31. Michigan
32. Wake Forest
33. Virginia Tech
34. Miami (FL)
35. Rutgers
36. Washington State
37. Kansas
38. Georgia Tech
39. Colorado
40. Middle Tennessee State
41. Louisiana State
42. Iowa
43. Oklahoma
44. Minnesota
45. Connecticut
46. Kentucky
47. Wichita State
48. George Washington
49. DePaul

Honorable Mentions: Alabama, Arizona St, Boston College, Eastern Illinois, Florida, George Mason, James Madison, Long Island, Michigan St, Montana St, Murray State, North Carolina St, Oregon St, Southern California, Utah, Wisconsin-Green Bay

Below is the point breakdown that we use. As we await the final word on where some of the last few BIG “dominoes’ fall you can see how it can impact and slide different programs up and down the list.

#1-5 player = 15 points, #6-10 = 14 points, #11-15 = 13pts, #16-20 =12 pts, #21-30 = 11pts, #31-40 =10pts, #41-60 =9pts, #61-80 -= 8pts, #81-100 = 7pts, #100-120=6pts, #121-150=5pts, #151-200=4pts, #201-250 3pts, #251+ 2pts. If players sign with a program that we did not have within our system then they get 1pt. If we had them in our system as a mid-major or major D1 prospect = 2pts, if evaluated as Low D1/D2/D3 level = 1pt.