Recruiting Changing On The Fly For 2020
The majority of the Spring AAU season is over and we are really digging in on the recruiting in the class of 2020. Today, we want to take a quick step back and look at where things are at and…
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Continue ReadingThe majority of the Spring AAU season is over and we are really digging in on the recruiting in the class of 2020. Today, we want to take a quick step back and look at where things are at and what to look out for in the coming months.
Top-End Separating Themselves
As we have stated many, many times, we have not seen much talent coming from this 2020 class. It just isn’t there. However, we have seen the high end of the class begin to separate themselves and become more known nationally. Looking at the guys near the top, Anthony Leal, D’Andre Davis, Trey Galloway, Nijel Pack, Jaden Ivey, and Kiyron Powell seem to be separating themselves.
Ivey came off the board to commit to Purdue before the first live period. Davis was already off the board to Nebraska. But the rest are starting to rack up MM and above offers. This isn’t surprising but looking at the group just below them, the offers just aren’t there. Now, part of that could be that things are just coming along slower for those lower level DI prospects but it is also probably a result of there just not being overly coveted right now.
The amount of DI prospects will be low but most will probably come at the high-major level. Only 16 players right now have DI offers, 2 are committed. 2 are to Armed Service Schools. Outside of that, there probably aren’t many more to get DI offers and of those 16, 9 are likely to end up at High-Major programs. In the prior class, 2019 had 26 prospects that had full-ride offers for Basketball to DI schools.
Recruiting Coming On Slow
Part of the issue with all of the changes this year to the recruiting calendar is the lack of information at hand for college coaches to make decisions. They have a lot less days on the road, which I’m sure their families love. But, there was a reason for it. They needed to see all of their options live and determine who it was they wanted to go after.
Now, coaches haven’t been able to really dive into the 2020 class as deep as they have wanted and in turn that has slowed the number of offers at all levels that have been put out. Especially non-DI programs have had a struggle this Spring trying to get a grip on the recruiting landscape and they have even had more opportunities but scheduling this Spring has not been easy.
Expectations have now switched to the point where offers that would normally come out in the Spring are being pushed back to this Summer and into July. Not ideal but not sure college coaches are at a point where they are going to offer off of watching exclusively film. So, we sit and we wait until they can get back out on the road.
Lack of Depth Creating Concerns
The thing we have always stressed about this class was the lack of depth at any level. There just wasn’t much at any level. Now, we are seeing that really standing out as our post positions are hurting with the lack of DI options. We have 3 players with DI offers from our Power Forward and Center options. At this point, we don’t expect to see any others pick them up.
Now, that could end up helping future classes because size is always coveted and you can get through one class without bringing in much, however, multiple years isn’t a great idea. So, you could see some guys falling into better schools because those programs need players at specific positions. This is most likely to happen for out forward and post positions as opposed to guards and wings.
This is what has helped to create the transfer culture of recent years. Great for kids in the short term but not necessarily best for the long term. So, be smart and do your research because schools are going to be trying to find ways to make it work even though it might not be ideal for them.
Early Commitments
Another thing to think of here is when to commit. As we have seen already, nationally, players are committing fairly quickly. The top, top guys will stay on the board for a while and they can get away with that. However, it is easy to see why a lot of guys are coming off the board early. Jaden Ivey didn’t even wait a couple days to get the the first live period of the year before he went and committed to Purdue.
A lot of that is due to the lack of recruiting opportunities. Realistically, the June Live Periods are going to be poor. Most won’t get anything out of them. So, instead of having 18+ days of recruiting, you are limited to 7. That is a huge loss and some prospects are feeling that and when they are getting an offer they love, they aren’t waiting for better. Is this the best move? For most probably but it isn’t for all. Figuring out what you want and committing quickly in the process will have to be something each player thinks about but is more likely this year more than any other.