2022 Rankings Breakdown: Free Overview
We can debate all day about whether or not rankings are necessary or good, but one thing we can’t argue about is that the basketball community in Virginia has been clamoring about the 2022 class, and we at Prep Hoops VA have the first ever rankings for this class. It wasn’t easy, and I urge everyone to please be critical but also be patient, knowing that these rankings will obviously change with time as we watch kids mature and grow on and off the court. With that being said, here’s a look at the free overview of the rankings. You can see the entire class of 2022 rankings here, and be sure to keep an eye out for positional breakdowns and individual breakdowns of the prospects coming this week. Enjoy!
Hardest Rankings I’ve Ever Started
It’s never easy to start rankings, but in my five years doing this I have started the 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022 rankings, and none gave me nearly as much of a headache than this one. While I enjoyed doing them, the 2022 rankings were tough to make for a number of reasons, including that the top ten were as difficult as they’ve been. Throughout the high school season I got glimpses of some very talented players, but once the summer hit and I went to different AAU events and team camps it got even more difficult as you see the kids grow and improve over time. The class looks deep to start, and while it all take a while to see how kids grow both physically and on the court, there are a lot of coaches, media members and scouts who all believe this class has a chance to be special moving forward.
Talent Spread All Over
While the state is known for certain pockets of areas being very good, there’s talent all over the state, including three top 5 players coming from the Charlottesville/Harrisonburg area. With the training and development of kids at a young age, expect to see more and more of the talent base starting to be spread out. Kids from smaller areas are playing AAU with kids from metro areas, and in those smaller areas kids are also more likely to get early playing time and make a big impact for their teams early on. It will be interesting to see how that trend continues moving forward.
757 Guard Heavy and Ready!
Throughout the season I had seen glimpses of a number of very talented young guards in the 757 area. I kept tabs on many of them throughout the summer, and it all culminated in the Virginia Wesleyan Team Camp where many of them competed under the same roof. In the 757 area, there are eight guards in the top 40, and five in the top 20, and that’s JUST from the guard position. The Hampton Roads area is known for producing high level players at all positions, but this guard group has a chance to be something special moving forward.
Just Scratching the Surface
As with all first time rankings, I know that there are probably tons of kids I haven’t seen or kids who are going to blow up late, so I urge everyone to PLEASE be patient with us at Prep Hoops VA and know that while these are the first rankings, they will not look the same as the last ones of the next updated ones for that. We are just scratching the surface with this talented group of players and it should be a lot of fun to watch them continue to grow.
Top 10
1) Jayden Epps | 6’0″ PG | Kings Fork | Boo Williams 16U |
2) Maliq Brown | 6’7″ PF | Blue Ridge | Team Loaded VA |
3) Knasir “Dug” McDaniel | 5’9″ PG | Paul VI | Team Takeover |
4) Tyler Nickel | 6’6″ WF | East Rockingham | Team Loaded VA |
5) Justin Taylor | 6’5″ WG | St. Annes-Belfield | Team Loaded VA |
6) Jaden Daughtry | 6’5″ F | Benedictine | VA Havoc |
7) Donald Hand Jr. | 6’3″ G | Landstown | Team Loaded VA |
8) David Solomon | 6’6″ PF | Lake Braddock | Team Durant |
9) David Onanina | 6’6″ PF | Bishop O’Connell | Team Loaded DC |
10) Kanye Clary | 5’10” PG | Princess Anne | Boo Williams |