The 2017 Ohio Grassroots Team Rankings: 17U
To wrap up our coverage of the 2017 grassroots season, it’s time for the final Team Rankings of the season. The 17U Rankings will remain accessible underneath the Grassroots tab at the top of the Prep Hoops Ohio homepage. This article will simply explain our thinking behind them.
With rosters changing on a weekly basis with players jumping from team to team and since these are Team Rankings, the rankings have to do more with records/championships than talent. Talent is considered though! In some situations, it’s the reason one team with comparable results is ranked higher than another.
Also, these final rankings do factor in team performance from the spring. Some teams made huge leaps in July, but it’s impossible to jump from unranked to #1, if their spring wasn’t impressive.
The 17U Top 25
-
All Ohio Red EYBL
-
C2K Elite
-
OH-NOVA (Tillman)
-
Ohio Basketball Club
-
TNBA OH
-
TNBA East
-
Akron Bobcats
-
OH-NOVA (Rice)
-
Elite Basketball Club
-
Club Ohio (Pierce)
-
VCC Ohio Warriors Pro Bound
-
Team One Phenoms
-
All Ohio Black
-
OBC – Classic Impressions
-
TNBA Kaminski
-
Shining Star (Price)
-
OEBA Purple
-
Ohio Unity
-
NWO Basketball Club
-
Murphy A.C.
-
OT Elite 2018
-
Hidden Gems Black
-
Advanced Game
-
Hidden Gems Orange
-
Club Ohio (Davenport)
Tier 1: 1-4
When it comes to ranking the very top tier of this 17U group, it’s a bit different than the 15U or 16U because of history. Over the past few years, All Ohio Red has established themselves as the best group of 2018 prospects in Ohio. In July, they went 3-2 at Peach Jam, were the runner-up at the Nike Summer Championships, and made it to the quarterfinals of the AAU Super Showcase.
Amongst Tier 1 teams, C2K Elite had the best record of anyone in July, going 16-3. They were the Open Champions of the UAA Finals, after going 6-0 on the weekend. They followed up the impressive showing in Atlanta by going 3-2 in Grand Rapids; then C2K went 7-1 at the Fab 48 in Vegas, only losing to NY Renaissance by two points in the semifinals.
OH-NOVA (Tillman) gets the slight edge over OBC, after beating them in Louisville byway of a second half comeback. NOVA also beat Twenty Two Vision that weekend, ending at an impressive 5-1 as the runner-up at the All In Hoopfest. OBC went 3-2 that weekend, with one of those losses coming to NOVA in said semifinals. Both of these teams also traveled to Vegas in the final weekend of July for the adidas Summer Championships — OBC was 5-3 and NOVA was 3-2, but NOVA made their way into a higher bracket because of a stronger showing in pool play.
Tier 2: 5-11
This second tier of 17U teams would’ve seen significant changes with just one more Ohio-based tournament, say this weekend. Meaning, they are all similar in talent level and success.
For example, in the spring, the Warriors were all the way up at #5. But their inconsistency in Louisville and Fort Wayne dropped them. They had major wins, but were unable to string them together in July.
Meanwhile, TNBA OH swept the Chicago Summer Jam and went 5-1 in Columbus (losing their only game in July, to the Akron Bobcats, by a single point). TNBA East made the leap from #10 to #6 by winning the GRBA National Championships and going 5-1 in Chicago. Our #7 team, the Akron Bobcats made the largest leap of any team (from #19) by beating Red and TNBA OH on their way to a Championship in Columbus. Additionally, the Bobcats were tremendous in Chicago.
Moving past northeast Ohio, OH-NOVA (Rice) stayed put as Ohio’s #8 team by being incredibly consistent throughout July. They went 3-1 in Atlanta, 3-1 in Louisville, and 4-1 in Fort Wayne. Elite Basketball Club saw a move up the rankings, namely from their 6-1 weekend in Louisville, where they beat OEBA Purple and the Warriors. Club Ohio (Pierce) established themselves as a top ten team by going 10-5 in July.
Tier 3: 12-16
Tier 3 is a confluence of teams who dropped down slightly and others that exceeded expectations in July. Essentially, this group is knocking on the door of Tier 2 while being distinguishable over Tier 4 teams.
OBC – Classic Impressions and TNBA Kaminski had the most impressive Julys within this tier. OBC’s 4-1 performance in Fort Wayne gives them an argument for second tier status, while TNBA Kaminski (who was filling sidelines with D-II, D-III, and NAIA coaches during the Live Period) had three straight strong weekends.
Tier 4: 17-25
Here, we have a collection of teams that can compete with pretty much anyone in Tier 2 and Tier 3, yet didn’t have consistent showings throughout the season. Some of these groups were our favorites to watch, because of the hunger they played with, but we couldn’t quite include them in Tier 3.
Ohio Unity, OT Elite, Advanced Game, and Murphy A.C., showed vast improvements when they came out after June. Also, we’d like to note that VCC-NOVA (Beard), TNBA West Flash, Another Level, JSBA, and ISG-Hidden Gems, are Tier 4 teams, even if they didn’t crack the Top 25.