2019 Updated Rankings Breakdown: Free Preview
With high school basketball coming to a close we decided it would be a good time to do our quarterly rankings update in the state of Virginia. We have ranked players based by their class ranging from the seniors to sophomores, and the rankings are geared to reflect who the best next level prospects in the state are. While we do take into consideration high school production, it should be made very clear that these rankings are SUBJECTIVE and are not intended to say who the best high school players in the state are, but instead to group together and list the best collegiate prospects are in each class throughout the state of Virginia.
The rankings are discussed and talked about among the Prep Hoops Staff along with coaches, media members and others in the basketball community. Because we’re predicting collegiate level we not only took into account things like talent level, high school and AAU production, size, athleticism and IQ; We also took into account intangible things like leadership quality, coachaability, attitude, hustle, reputation, winning mentality and the overall “it factor” of a kid.
We’ve now had four years to get the job done and while we still probably did it wrong, take a look at our updated 2019 Prep Hoops Virginia rankings.
- Editor’s note: We only ranked players eligible to play high school basketball, not post graduate kids. All schools, grassroots teams, heights and commitments are from most recent memory and notes. Enjoy!
What’s New?
EVERYTHING! We haven’t done a rankings since before the high school season started and now it looks completely different. To start, the last #1 player in our rankings was Armando Bacot, who is now a McDonald’s All American at IMG Academy in Florida. Replacing him is a new face to our rankings but not the national ones in fellow McDonald’s All American Cole Anthony of Oak Hill.
Following Anthony is Oak Hill teammate Kofi Cockburn (originally from NY) at 2 and there’s one more Oak Hill teammate in the top ten in Christian Brown (originally from SC) at 4. To see the rest of the top 10 keep scrolling!
Commitments Galore!
While a good amount of players had already committed before the season started, players continue to fulfill their dreams of playing ball at the next level. Because of how basketball is in VA, we have some top teams in conferences ranging from high majors to low majors, D2s and D3 schools, so there isn’t a shortage of good options for kids to choose from. Here’s a look at some of the guys who have recently committed since after the season started.
#2 Kofi Cockburn – Illinois #39 Daryl Anderson – Norfolk State
#5 Qudus Wahab – Georgetown #50 Ian Anderson – Christopher Newport
#25 Shawn Walker – Sienna #56 Cody Mains – Air Force
#30 Ben Jensen – Army #57 Jordan Hernandez – Virginia State
#38 Quinton Morton-Robertson – Radford #58 Caleb Butts – Virginia State
Still Available Guys for All Levels
There’s always a lot of under recruited, late bloomers and overlooked guys in VA, and this class may be just as much or more than any other class in the four years I’ve been doing this. In the top 20 of our rankings, there are seven available mid major or higher level prospects spanning all of the positions across the floor. For out of state division two schools, there’s only three D2 schools in VA and a lot more D2 talent than just those three can sign, but that’s also the reason that VA has some of the best D3 basketball country including two teams in the top 25.
What I’m trying to say is there are tons of available players for schools at all levels of college basketball, and if you’d like to see more check our rankings and be sure to check out my 9 part series on the best available seniors in VA.
Rankings Have Been Extended
In an effort to help more college coaches and recognize more kids for their talent, we have decided to extend the senior rankings to 175 players, up from the typical 150 that we do. We made this decision because we don’t believe that kids should lose recognition because other kids have made their way into the rankings. To see some of the new additions to the rankings, be sure to check out our new faces series in the rankings content that will be coming out soon.
I Know We Forgot People and I’m Sorry!
Even as we extend the rankings, we are very aware that we aren’t able to see every kid across the state and even ones we have seen we are bound to make mistakes and forget some people. If you have been left off and you believe you were snubbed I do apologize and mean no disrespect.
Top 10
1) Cole Anthony | 6’2″ PG | Oak Hill Academy | Undecided |
2) Kofi Cockburn | 6’10” C | Oak Hill Academy | Illinois |
3) Anthony Harris | 6’3″ G | Paul VI | Virginia Tech |
4) Christian Brown | 6’7″ WF | Oak Hill Academy | Undecided |
5) Qudus Wahab | 6’11” C | Flint Hill | Georgetown |
6) Robbie Beran | 6’9″ F | Collegiate | Northwestern |
7) Mahamadou Diawara | 6’9″ PF | Massanutten | Undecided |
8) Zac Ervin | 6’5″ WF | Gate City | Wofford |
9) Mike Christmas | 6’6″ F | Landstown | JMU |
10) Jamon Battle | 6’5″ WG | LC Bird | Undecided |