2026 Final Player Rankings

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At the beginning of December we had&nbsp;<strong>355</strong>&nbsp;players to rank for the 2026 class and now we are at&nbsp;<strong>365</strong>&nbsp;players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>36 players are new</strong>&nbsp;and some have moved to different states, focused on different sports, and went into the 2025 or 2027 class.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Of the 36 new players, 2 fell in the top-30, 7 in the top-100 and 16 in the top-200. The other 20 fell in the top-365.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Our goal at&nbsp;<strong>PrepHoopsAZ</strong>&nbsp;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, AOG AZ High Academic Camp, Arizona Top-250 EXPO, my personal&nbsp;<a href="https://southwestaacamp.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Southwest Basketball Camp</a>&nbsp;and during the AIA/CAA/OTE/NIBC/EIBC/Grind Session seasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://prephoops.com/arizona/rankings/2026-rankings/","type":"wp-embed","providerNameSlug":"prep-hoops"} --> <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/2026-rankings/ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1. Most top players are now off the board but a couple D1-D2 hopefuls are still looking at schools like the two SDO players of [player_tooltip player_id='1490240' first='Colton' last='Watson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1697292' first='Rylan' last='Parsley'] plus [player_tooltip player_id='1782699' first='Quincy' last='Wadley'], [player_tooltip player_id='3240966' first='Amadou' last='Seini'], [player_tooltip player_id='2964152' first='Daniel' last='Simon'], [player_tooltip player_id='2960995' first='Mohamed' last='Massamba Ndao'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1552394' first='Andre' last='Tyler'] to name just some of them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2. 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, EYBL or Pro16 Puma) 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.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3. The reality is if the player has not grown in height, has not improved his shooting or polished up his game, IQ for the game is the same, he is not a top-tier defender and he is undersized for his position, he does not play heavy minutes on his varsity team or he is not very productive, he probably dropped in the rankings.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4. On the flip side, if he is undersized but he is hyper productive and one of the reasons his team made a deep run, he probably rose in the rankings. There are exceptions to everything but bottom line, if you are really not playing your senior year, you will drop. Are you in the game when the game is on the line? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5. If you are looking at your ranking, you should really look at your positional ranking. That means more. For example college coaches needing a C will now look at&nbsp;[player_tooltip player_id='3240966' first='Amadou' last='Seini'],&nbsp;and not&nbsp;<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1782699' first='Quincy' last='Wadley']</strong><a href="https://prephoops.com/player/quincy-wadley/"></a>&nbsp;, even though Wadley is rated higher. I get calls about position, not tell me your overall top ranked players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6. Of the <strong>365</strong> players we have 80 PG's, 64 SG's, 58 CG's, 80 SF's, 71 PF's and 12 C's.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->