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Sept 1 is the 1st day schools can contact ’22 hoops recruits for #ncaaw (June 15 for sophs in MBB). Just want to provide some tips, information, & sources to research as you begin looking closer at schools. THREAD:
NCAA says unlimited contact, but don't take it literally. Set guidelines for how/when you want to be contacted. High schools start on different dates, have different hours. Don't hesitate to tell colleges when you aren't free. Don't need coaches calling during school and stuff.
Value of a scholarship is in the 6-figure range. People do homework on "big" purchase like phone or car, which is small in comparison. Too many just rely on what they are told by coaches, it is not a good idea. Here are some good sources to rely on when researching schools
PLAYING STYLE: @herhoopstats - best $20/yr to spend to get big picture overview of how teams play. A lot of teams claim they run, but there are stats like possessions per 40 min where you can see a team's style yourself. 3 PT Rate, Steal Rate, Usage Rate, etc. all insightful.
TEAM RESUME: @WarrenNolan1 ( http://warrennolan.com/basketballw/2020/rpi-live) ranks all 351 D1 teams by RPI. In WBB you only hear about Top 25 ranking, but that only accounts for 7% of D1 schools. They have an archive with prior years data, and also conference RPI data, which is a good comparison tool
COLLEGE SEARCH: College Board has good features, like step-by-step guide to a college search ( https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-college-fit/college-search-step-by-step), & a detailed college search tool ( https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search ).
College search tools help b/c just in D1 you have wildly different schools that are often opposites in terms of student body size, setting, etc. Have to think about WHAT you are looking for, not just change the preference based on the biggest offer you get. Need general criteria
ACADEMIC RANKINGS: There are many, but U.S. News & World Report are probably the most cited. They rank national universities ( https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities) and liberal arts colleges ( https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-college). A lot of the best schools are D3, or smaller D1’s. Don't sleep!
SCHOOL SNAPSHOT: U.S. Dept of Ed.( https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/ ) has tons of info: grad rate, avg salary for new grads, list of majors (+ most popular/highest earning ones), student body overview, socio-economic diversity & race/ethnicity data, as well as SAT/ACT info & acceptance rate
Looking at US Dept of Ed. admissions info on schools, you may be surprised how difficult it is to get into some of them. Sports are a GREAT tool to open doors into schools that are much tougher to get into if you don't have an elite skill in a sport. Leverage that!
If you know a school isn't a fit (too far, too big, etc.), you don't need to pretend to be interested just to be nice. Thank them for their interest, & you can say you are focusing in a different direction. Lets the program look elsewhere. They are better off knowing early.
Make note of which head coaches you deal with. Have they come to see you play? HC is on long term deal, its their program. HC can't recruit everyone, so they focus on their top targets. You can get a sense of pecking order if some schools its only the AC you hear from (slowplay)
On similar note, don't fall for a school b/c of relationship w/ asst coach. High turnover job (generally). There are still jobs to be filled this offseason, now add in after your junior and senior years. A LOT of movement before college enrollment.
Find out contract status of the HC from the schools you like. For public univ, often online. Most coaches try to have 4+ years so they can sell stability. For private schools, need to ask. Every year I see players commit to school, coach has 1-2 yrs left, its tough situation
NLI – I don’t know if this impacts most kids, but since NCAA name, image, and likeness is in the news a lot and teams are tweeting about it now, seeing media markets in terms of potential exposure in a respective town/region can be worth a look. https://mediatracks.com/resources/nielsen-dma-rankings-2020/
ROSTER – Look at how many key contributors a school will graduate the year before you enroll. Look at whether the key players at your position are young or old. If they are young, may be tougher to play early. ’20 and ’21 classes key.
ROTATION: Every team has a stats page. Look at conference-only stats (closer games), you can see minutes distribution and sort of tell the type of rotation they play. Some go 6-7 deep; some go 10+ deep, platoon style. Pros/Cons to both depending on what you want.
PRO BALL – Schools brag about WNBA players. Odds are rough, but ask about # of active players overseas. Euro League is the top league overseas, any players there? If they have players with longevity overseas, good sign of development/preparation (Avg pro career is short)
MAJORS – Look on roster to see what the players major in. Are they clustered in just a couple of majors? Ask how they handle class conflicts w/ practice? Have they had kids major in your potential field? How about pre-med, engineering, other "tough" majors? How feasible is this?
LIFE AFTER BALL – NCAA tagline is “Most of us go pro in something other than sports.” Ask about recent grads who aren’t playing ball. What companies hired them? What grad schools are they getting accepted into? What are players doing post-graduation?
COLLEGE TOWN – You'll be on campus during winter/summer break when campus is quiet, so area is important. Do you want rural, suburban or urban area? Are there things to do when school is out of session? Can look at events held, demographics, companies nearby (Internships)
SUMMER – How many summer sessions do players have to attend? Can you stay longer? Shorter? Is there a way for players to study abroad one summer? Do they have the flexibility to let players get an out-of-town internship in lieu of attending a summer session(s)?
VIRTUAL VISIT – With the extended dead period, some resources for virtual campus tours: https://campustours.com/ has a lot of tours, plus Youtube is good resource. Admissions offices at schools are adapting and trying to put up more video tours online.
GAME FILM – Nothing can substitute watching a team play. ESPN+ ($) has archive of games. Youtube has a lot of games, just filter a search to only include this year, for recent games. Look how a coach communicates in TO’s, huddles, post game presser (also on Youtube sometimes).
/Thread.
That's all I have. Biggest thing is to do research, find your own info. Make a spreadsheet of criteria important to you, rank schools based on these factors. Name/Hype/Conference won't make you happy, college is so much more. Think big picture
That's all I have. Biggest thing is to do research, find your own info. Make a spreadsheet of criteria important to you, rank schools based on these factors. Name/Hype/Conference won't make you happy, college is so much more. Think big picture
