What does it take?- high school basketball

[Anonymous]

Top national rankings.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39906430/scnext-top-25-final-2023-24-boys-high-school-basketball-rankings


5 VA/DC/MD listed.

Almost all of them are catholic or prep schools.

I don’t see any public schools here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A freshman playing fall league JV is very unlikely to make Varsity freshman year at a large public HS. If he was A-MAZ-ING, which you have to be to get on Varsity as a freshman, the coaches would want him playing on the fall league Varsity team.

But he'd make it as a sophomore is the point

Yes, I think you misread the post. That person was saying this year, a freshman playing fall league jv would be unlikely to move up to varsity this year as a freshman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top national rankings.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39906430/scnext-top-25-final-2023-24-boys-high-school-basketball-rankings


5 VA/DC/MD listed.

Almost all of them are catholic or prep schools.

I don’t see any public schools here.

So you’re saying that you’re new at this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

Yep. And Large public HS coaches also recruit, or try to, but they have to be sly about it. That 7 foot kid who just happened to transfer in from another FCPS HS because he wanted to take German? He's getting one of those 12 Varsity slots. Or they talk to kids who were recruited to privates but are sitting on the bench not getting playtime and promise they will play if they transfer back to public. Etc. So at big publics, kids are competing against a few recruits as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

This right here. I know of a family sending their kid to a large private school that's a basketball powerhouse around here. They have dreams of their kid playing for this powerhouse rather than their local HS, but I don't think they realize it will be nearly impossible to make that team if you're not recruited. This may not be true about the freshman class, but certainly for varsity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

This right here. I know of a family sending their kid to a large private school that's a basketball powerhouse around here. They have dreams of their kid playing for this powerhouse rather than their local HS, but I don't think they realize it will be nearly impossible to make that team if you're not recruited. This may not be true about the freshman class, but certainly for varsity.

My eighth grade daughter has a few players on her county team who are looking forward to playing for their WCAC school next year. She doesn't have the heart to tell them that girls on her AAU team have already been offered spots on the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

This right here. I know of a family sending their kid to a large private school that's a basketball powerhouse around here. They have dreams of their kid playing for this powerhouse rather than their local HS, but I don't think they realize it will be nearly impossible to make that team if you're not recruited. This may not be true about the freshman class, but certainly for varsity.

My eighth grade daughter has a few players on her county team who are looking forward to playing for their WCAC school next year. She doesn't have the heart to tell them that girls on her AAU team have already been offered spots on the team.

It is a lot less competitive all around on the girls side. It is technically possible for girls to try out for basketball at a WCAC and make the team (will they play? unlikely, but there are bench spots on these teams for regular students. Not true at all on the boys side, even the bench players are recruits.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously, height is important in basketball. But on my son's private school team there are a surprising number of very skilled shorter kids on the team. My son is a legit 6-2 (meaning he is about as tall as many basketball recruits in the DMV who claim they are 6-4), and he was taller than all but a few kids on the team last year. Granted, he is not at PVI, but this is a real team. All of these super-skilled little guys are serious AAU players, and most of them them do not play much on varsity, but they are on the varsity. The local publics are loaded with shorter players (say 6-1 and under). Many teams have no size at all, probably because almost all the bigs have been recruited to the private schools.

Isn't it much easier to make most private school basketball teams vs. public school teams? A 3000 student public high school has a lot more kids trying out than a 400 student private school.

Not exactly.

Some will have small class sizes and bad varsity teams.


But MANY recruit like crazy. So many have amazing teams that would destroy most public HS. Sideell, Gonzaga, Bullis, SJC, Occinel, Macnamara, Blue Ridge, Paul6, Eoiscopal, etc….


Even though these school have small classes, they will pull out the best kids from Public school to play their teams.

So if your kid is 14, 6’8 and plays on an EYBL team, they will be at Gonzaga, Bullis, Paul 6 etc. no way they stay in public.

Its hard to make the teams almost everywhere except small publics and no name/small privates. At big publics, they sre competing for 12 spots out of 1500 boys at the school. At the privates, all the spots are taken by recruits. Its amazing to me that people pay to send their kids to these private achools where their kids are shut out of all the sports teams.
More access to extracurriculars is supposed to be a strength of privates!

This right here. I know of a family sending their kid to a large private school that's a basketball powerhouse around here. They have dreams of their kid playing for this powerhouse rather than their local HS, but I don't think they realize it will be nearly impossible to make that team if you're not recruited. This may not be true about the freshman class, but certainly for varsity.

If he wants to play high school basketball he would have been better off attending his local public. which is ironic because one of the things private school sells to parents is access to leadership roles, sports teams, clubs for college apps without having to compete for limited spots like public school kids do. then they pay their 40k and show up and all the spots on the team are taken by public school kids.

[Anonymous]

Ironic also because the recruits are usually on full rides, which means those parents are subsidizing the kids who are taking opportunities away from their own full pay kid. its kind of wild that everyone goes along with this system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ironic also because the recruits are usually on full rides, which means those parents are subsidizing the kids who are taking opportunities away from their own full pay kid. its kind of wild that everyone goes along with this system.

That's my favorite part. The schools love to brag about their sports and facilities, but they aren't for regular kids paying full tuition, they're for recruited athletes on scholarship. Also be sure to do your part and donate so the school can afford to bring in more kids to replace yours on teams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When do you start training? If your dc did travel basketball in ES and MS then is that a guarantee he will make HS team?

No, not with these 2500 student schools.

[Anonymous]

I wish the private schools would recruit MORE public school kids. Its so hard for a regular kid who isn't 6'8 or athletically gifted to make the big public school's teams! The less competition, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yep. And Large public HS coaches also recruit, or try to, but they have to be sly about it. That 7 foot kid who just happened to transfer in from another FCPS HS because he wanted to take German? He's getting one of those 12 Varsity slots. Or they talk to kids who were recruited to privates but are sitting on the bench not getting playtime and promise they will play if they transfer back to public. Etc. So at big publics, kids are competing against a few recruits as well.

My 8th grade son is not tall but a very skilled point and shooting guard, 3-point shooter, and good enough to play for the higher tier MD AAU teams. He attends basketball camp at a large VA public HS every summer near our home but not in our school zone. This past summer, the varsity HS coach who runs the camp "recruited" him throughout the camp week, asked him to transfer to his school. My son said other coaches watched him play throughout the week. Varsity coach spoke to me several times and asked me to contact him once school started to discuss how he could transfer my son into the school (probably by declaring his strong desire to enroll in Basket-Weaving 1-4, only offered at that public HS).

[Anonymous]

Yep, the really competitive public HS coaches are amazing well-versed on the most obscure course offerings at their high school. Most of them seem to get one or two players at most to tranfer in that way. If you get too greedy, you get caught like that Hayfield guy. Especially with basketball with so few spots on the team. You would get outed by parents if you filled all the slots up with kids from out of bounds.