To accompany our freshly updated
2017 prospect rankings, we will be publishing a few articles throughout the week examining the class.
For starters, let's dive into some of the strengths and weakness in this class. There are a few trends present with this group that are worth recognizing.
Strength: Talent depth
The #123 ranked player,
Michael Karl, recently announced that he will play at Marietta next season. Marietta is one of the strongest Division III programs in Ohio. And there are 122 players ranked higher than Karl!
Another example that exemplifies how deep this talent pool goes:
Sam Martin, a point guard at Summit Country Day, is ranked #112. Martin was arguably the most valuable player on a team that went undefeated in the regular season. He averaged 15.4 points on 56-46-81 shooting splits, to go along with 2.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Martin is a ball-secure point guard who is dedicated to making smart decisions for his basketball team. He'd be a steal for a Division III program. Yet, he couldn't crack the top 100.
So while, there may not be a slew of high-major talent near the top of the list, guys like Martin can be found deep in the list because we just couldn't quite rank Martin above someone like
Quentin Jones (#87).
While it may feel like an injustice to Martin to have him at #112, it says more about how deep 2017 is.
Weakness: High- to mid-major talent
The top four players include one going to a blue-blood program, Sterling Manley. The other three will be at high- to mid-majors next season. But that's it. In 2015, current Wisconsin Badger, Khalil Iverson, was #21 on the list.
Between Kaleb Wesson, Kyle Young, Derek Culver, and Sterling Manley, there's probably three guys who are ready to make an impact on a national program next season.
While guys further down the list are projected to have productive careers in the MAC, they're not quite Luke Kennard, who was #2 in the 2015 class.
Strength: Point guards
There's always going to be more point guards than other positions, because humans are more likely to be 5'11” than 6'7”. Even so, 2017's point guards are a special and versatile group.
You have your scoring point guards, who can come off the ball in certain lineups. Guys like
P'hariz Watkins fit this bill for a Division II or Division III school.
Watkins played on the same high school team as another spectacular point guard,
Christian Montague. The Chaminade Julienne backcourt meshed because Montague brought a different set of skills. While Montague can score the basketball, he's more of a well-rounded prospect who might grab five rebounds when he senses it necessary.
Danny “DJ” Corbett fits this style, a cerebral point guard used to leading a team.
Programs looking for a pass-first point were able to land Jonathan Williams and
Harrison Riggs.
Weakness: Wings with size
Once you work past
Kyle Young, BJ Duling,
Dalonte Brown, and others at the top, finding a 6'5”-6'7” kid who plays the perimeter becomes difficult. Part of the reason that point guard has become such a loaded talent pool, is because the best perimeter players are increasingly asked to play point in AAU.
Also, in some smaller towns and at the high school level in general, some 6'5” players are the tallest available guys. Naturally, they play the post their entire life.
In turn, there's just not many guys like
Adrian Nelson or Pete Nance in the 2017 class. Now,
Gavin Brown and
Anthony Masterlasco do somewhat fit this profile for 2017, but the list is thin.
This could end up helping guys like
Isaiah Gable,
Dawson Tilman and
Antoine Smith receive a late surge in recruitment. All are unsigned perimeter players above 6'5” who are most effective coming off the ball.
