Column: Decision Time Is Approaching For 2018 Class. Remember: Fit, fit, fit.
I recently talked to a player about his recruitment, and loved what I heard when he told me why the school at the top of his list was residing in that position.
“It feels good that they want me, you know?”
I do know! Because that makes perfect sense. Many of you have played basketball for years, making sacrifices throughout the calendar — as your families do the same — to put yourself in position to be wanted by a college that will pay for some or all of your education to play the game for them. That what this whole thing is about. To find a place where you are comfortable and that gives you the opportunities you are most looking for in a college basketball destination.
With the final July live periods rolling around, many of the players in the 2018 class will have three more weekends to prove themselves to college coaches. Some already have scholarship offers in hand and others could be on the verge of collecting one or more this month.
As this process winds down — or, as is also normal, continues into your senior seasons — I caution you to take the time to first and foremost exactly what it is that you want. Do you want a chance to grow and develop and get better as a player? Do you want to have a chance to play right away? Do you want to be a featured part of a program? Do you want to be a part of building a culture with a new program? Do you have certain educational goals in mind that a school would need to give you the opportunity to reach? Do you simply want a chance to show your game?
Make a list. Take the time to go through the process of truly identifying what it is that you want out of the next step in your basketball and educational life. After you make that list, it’s crucial that you have an honest conversation with yourself about where you are really at as a player and then see if that aligns with the priorities you’ve created.
Derrick White was a perfect example. No, most of you won’t sprout five inches after you graduate college and grow into an NBA body. But let’s think about what happened with Derrick before any of that. Derrick and his family trusted a plan, found people they could depend on and then trusted those people to operate solely with his best intentions in mind. When White, was selected in the first round of the NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs earlier this month, left Legend High School he had offers only from a junior-college in Wyoming and upstart Division II program UCCS. It was the honest conversation Derrick had with himself and his family that helped him know that UCCS, a place that wanted him and saw the potential he saw in himself, was the right FIT.
Too many times, already as we’ve closely monitored the basketball scene in Colorado for several years now, have we seen players land actionable offers that could fit them as a player only to wait for something they deemed better. But coaching staffs are on timelines to. They need players. And, frankly, many programs offer “over” the amount of scholarships they actually have as insurance if they don’t get the player they want.
That’s why it’s so important to find the right fit for YOU, and to identify whether the program you’re talking to genuinely wants you to be a part of it. Whether that’s Division I, II, III, NAIA or junior college, you have put in all this work for so many years to find a chance to play this game you love at the next level. That level is almost here. Make it count for you.