2027 Player Rankings

Gregg Rosenberg April 22, 2024 @ 06:14 PM

At the end of September we had 22 players to rank for the 2027 class only with 50 watch list players and we are now at 150 in the first unveiling of the freshman class.   79 players are new and more and more will be discovered in the next few years.   Of the 79 new players, 15 fell in the top-50 and 47 are in the top-100.   Freshmen rankings are easily the hardest since you don't know how much more a player will grow and you don't know how much that player will work to improve their skills. Simply put, players from the #1 ranked to last ranked all have to get better.   The freshman year is a true developmental year and getting your feet wet versus the speed of the game on varsity compared to junior high. Speaking of varsity, a lot of the players ranked are NOT on varsity yet. Some will still need to prove they are good enough to play at their own high schools and have to earn it. Others played and started on day one and shined over the year.   Everyone runs their own race, there is no exact science to this, from LeBron being a Star as a freshmen, to Michael Jordan not even making his varsity team until he was older.   Lastly, the more a scout or college coach watches a player, the more they learn what you CAN and CAN"T do.   Our goal at PrepHoopsAZ is to try and recognize anyone who may play college basketball. We will keep searching for new players in preseason camps/events/leagues/Prep Hoops Circuit, Arizona Top-250 EXPO, my personal <a href="https://southwestaacamp.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Southwest Basketball Camp</a> and during the AIA/CAA/OTE/NIBC/EIBC/Grind Session seasons.     <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-prep-hoops wp-block-embed-prep-hoops"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://prephoops.com/arizona/rankings/2027-rankings </div></figure>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Notes</h2>   1. 5 players have earned very early D1 offers including the dynamic [player_tooltip player_id='1555180' first='Delton' last='Prescott III'].   2. There are many others who will eventually earn their first offers in the next few years.   3. [player_tooltip player_id='1555179' first='Darius' last='Wabbington'] of Sunnyslope was invited to the prestigious Team USA tryouts during the Final-4 weekend.   4. The PG group is DEEP! A lot of college players in this group and some who are not in the top-5 for position already will be moving up once they fill in and get stronger.   5. The SF group is another tough group to crack at the top and they have some DUDES as well!   6. There are already 10 players who are 6'7 and taller including the big man at Hillcrest [player_tooltip player_id='1595014' first='Adrien' last='Isaac Porras'].   7. I am guessing those top-3 bigs of Darius, Adrien and [player_tooltip player_id='1580233' first='Paul' last='Osaruyi'] will be trying to battle for the top spot for 4 years until someone knocks on the door!   8. Rankings are based on a lot of things. Production, size for position, college coaches, the eye test, ability to score and defend, instincts, IQ, how a player moves, speed, ball handling, shooting, fundamentals. length and possible upside. It is not the easiest thing to do since not all players play in the same leagues for AAU and HS. They can be in the CAA, Grind Session, EIBC, OTE and the AIA obviously has different levels. Plus AAU teams may play on National Circuits (3SSB, UAA and EYBL) or play on independent or up and coming circuits (Pangos, NxtPro, EYCL, UAA Rise, Prep Hoops, WCE, New Balance, The Stage and so on). So you put all that information together and create the rankings.   9. Of the 150 players we have 52 PG's, 25 SG's, 23 CG's, 28 SF's, 16 PF's and only 6 C's.

At the end of September we had 22 players to rank for the 2027 class only with 50 watch list players and we are now at 150 in the first unveiling of the freshman class.