Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my son's very large public FCPS HS last year, around 60 freshman boys tried out for basketball. Zero made Varsity, Two made JV, 12 made the freshman team. All 14 had played year-round AAU/travel basketball (at various levels). No freshman made Varsity the year before, either.

And? Since when did people start to think it’s normal or expected for a freshman to make varsity? That is not currently, nor has it ever, been a commonplace outcome.

Not the pp you quoted. But that seems like a reasonable response to the parent of a kid who says they are hoping to make JV or varsity as a freshman.

Anonymous wrote:At my son's very large public FCPS HS last year, around 60 freshman boys tried out for basketball. Zero made Varsity, Two made JV, 12 made the freshman team. All 14 had played year-round AAU/travel basketball (at various levels). No freshman made Varsity the year before, either.

And? Since when did people start to think it’s normal or expected for a freshman to make varsity? That is not currently, nor has it ever, been a commonplace outcome.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For public, just go to Green Days?

Well, it helps. But a kid going to green days won't make the team over a better player.

We know a kid who just moved from a country not known for basketball. The kid is a sophomore and plans to try out for basketball. They have absolutely no idea how competitive it is around here, how long and hard these kids train and how many years they have played.

If they are from a soccer-loving country this kid's spatial awareness and idea of movement and passing etc might be that much better to offset any technical deficiencies, not to mention if they are huge as another PP suggested. How often do we watch D1 basketball and some kids can barely dribble a ball under pressure, hit a wide open shot etc. Yet they still find ways to be on the floor through these other attributes.

Kid is from Asia and 5’8”. He seems like a nice kid and I’m not trying to be mean. Just seems unlikely that he makes the HS basketball team. I could be wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For public, just go to Green Days?

Well, it helps. But a kid going to green days won't make the team over a better player.

We know a kid who just moved from a country not known for basketball. The kid is a sophomore and plans to try out for basketball. They have absolutely no idea how competitive it is around here, how long and hard these kids train and how many years they have played.

If they are from a soccer-loving country this kid's spatial awareness and idea of movement and passing etc might be that much better to offset any technical deficiencies, not to mention if they are huge as another PP suggested. How often do we watch D1 basketball and some kids can barely dribble a ball under pressure, hit a wide open shot etc. Yet they still find ways to be on the floor through these other attributes.

It’s interesting how many people who don’t know basketball don’t realize that it’s a skill sport.

Exactly zero kids who play D1 basketball can “barely dribble a ball under pressure.” They may look that way to folks like OP whose exposure to high level basketball is via TV, but the walk-on at the end of any D1 bench would dominate a D3 game, and any D3 player would wipe the floor with the guys at the park who tell themselves that they’re almost good enough for the G league. My kid at 14 was dunking on full grown adult men who thought they were great players, and by junior year he turned out to be… an average varsity player at a highly competitive DMV high school. A soccer player who isn’t a generational athlete and doesn’t have years of basketball training wouldn’t keep the ball for 3 seconds in a competitive freshman game.

At my son's very large public FCPS HS last year, around 60 freshman boys tried out for basketball. Zero made Varsity, Two made JV, 12 made the freshman team. All 14 had played year-round AAU/travel basketball (at various levels). No freshman made Varsity the year before, either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For public, just go to Green Days?

Well, it helps. But a kid going to green days won't make the team over a better player.

We know a kid who just moved from a country not known for basketball. The kid is a sophomore and plans to try out for basketball. They have absolutely no idea how competitive it is around here, how long and hard these kids train and how many years they have played.

If they are from a soccer-loving country this kid's spatial awareness and idea of movement and passing etc might be that much better to offset any technical deficiencies, not to mention if they are huge as another PP suggested. How often do we watch D1 basketball and some kids can barely dribble a ball under pressure, hit a wide open shot etc. Yet they still find ways to be on the floor through these other attributes.

Anonymous wrote:I have a child who just started private middle school (flint hill). I have heard they recruit for their sports teams including basketball.

Does that mean an average good basketball player won’t make the team?

For middle school, I believe everyone makes the team. There are 3 teams between 7th and 8th grade.

Flint Hill is like other schools in the MAC. They will recruit between 5 and 8 players that will get most of the minutes on varsity. These kids often come in as sophomore or junior transfers. So most of the kids who play middle school basketball with never see minutes in competitive varsity games. But the JV team will just consist of the kids in the school. No effort is made to recruit for these teams. It’s not like the WCAC schools where even making JV is hard. A player who is pretty normally good can thus play JV and if they are a hard worker will generally be rostered on varsity junior and senior year, but will only play in non-competitive games or blow outs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For public, just go to Green Days?

Well, it helps. But a kid going to green days won't make the team over a better player.

We know a kid who just moved from a country not known for basketball. The kid is a sophomore and plans to try out for basketball. They have absolutely no idea how competitive it is around here, how long and hard these kids train and how many years they have played.

So what? Better to try out and get cut then not try out at all.