There's a new phenomenon in basketball, the transfer portal. College basketball players can transfer one time without sitting out. Last off season more than 1500 college basketball players were in the transfer portal. How does this affect the high school basketball player? Simple. College basketball coaches are looking for ready made experienced players in college basketball. And that leaves the high school player trying to get recruited where? Parents of high school players and the player themselves have to understand what is going on here. Some players that would be mid to low major players three years ago are not getting those offers anymore. Division two schools come to look at these players and talk to them(especially in the Chicago Area), they think they are too good for that level. Better adjust your thinking or you will be left out in the cold. If you're a Class of 2022 player right now, and have division two offers, and division one "interest" better take that division two offer. Think of yourself as a college coach, do you want a high school player coming in to mold, or a ready made college basketball player? This is not the NBA which is more of a futures market. College coaches have to win now!!!!! They have pressure from the fans, alumni, athletic directors to win, and win NOW AND OFTEN!!!!! News flash: they are going to fill that roster with a player from the transfer portal before they will an untested incoming high school player.
Players, parents, travel coaches, high school coaches have to adjust to this new environment. This group of folks need to take every scholarship offer to play college basketball serious. This should have been happening all along, but it's REAL IMPORTANT at this time of college basketball. The goal should be to get a degree, and have fun playing college sports. Most do not have fun sitting on the bench not playing. That degree is not going to say, division one, division two, division three. It will say a degree from that particular university.The level that is recruiting you at this point is the level your talent is dictating. Most do not go to Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, and Gonzaga. If you're being heavily recruited by division two schools , then that's the level you should play at starting out in college. If you play very well at that level you can always move up to division one. It is happening more and more with the transfer portal. If a low division one school is just showing interest, chances are you are just a body to fill a scholarship. There is a great chance you will not play and be unhappy at that school. Then guess what happens? You are in the transfer portal looking for a school to give you playing time. Some kids go in there and get stuck in the portal. I know more than a few who went into it last off season, and are still in it without a school. You don't want that so be able to read the situation correctly.
Good example is Class of 2022 Jonah Hinton of Naperville Central High School. I had a conversation with his family at a MLK Tournament a few weeks ago. They told me he had a lot of division two offers, one of them was Northwest Missouri State. He had a few low division one interest from some schools. My advice to them was take the division two offer. Those schools really wanted him. Does he have the talent to play division one? Yes in my opinion he does, but in this environment he was not getting those division one offers. Yesterday he committed to Northwest Missouri State, a school that has been ranked #1 in division two this year. A good school and highly competitive on that level. I told him on twitter great decision, and it is. Who knows. He could tear it up at that level and move up to division one later in his career. Either way he has a free education and can get a bachelors degree. Congrats young man and blessings to a great and fun college career.
There are more young men this year in Hinton's position but just waiting, waiting, waiting for that division one offer. These young men could end up going the fifth year prep school route. Or they could just be left out in the cold because they waited too long for that offer? Just remember you are not competing for a scholarship with just other high schoolers. You are competing against those young men in the transfer portal, or kids that will be in there after this season. I will add if you're a 4 star or 5 star you can afford to wait. Schools will wait on that kind of talent, this is about young men not in that category. It's a brave new world in high school and college basketball recruiting. It is ever changing and anyone in the young man's circle needs to keep up or it will pass you by. Taking that division two or lower offer is not settling, it's taking what you've earned and a over $100,000 investment those coaching staffs are putting into you and your talent. Private schools are more than that over a 4 to 5 year period. Last thing: TAKE EVERY OFFER SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!! Happy hunting.
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