|
New Blood: Re-Assessing the Incoming 1956 Recruits
We find ourselves compelled to take issue with the 'official' recruiting rankings, which seems somewhat odd to us in their methodology. They seem to place too much emphasis on the number of recruits, as if a horde of warm bodies could somehow make up for a lack of talent, largely a demonstrably untrue assessment. Even more importantly, they seem to be based on rankings and star ratings from the scouting services which are a year old. Such things are extremely valuable for their time, a time which has now passed. It is always best to base conclusions on the best information available, and we've learned much about these players in the past year.
Therefore with little further ado we present NBR's own recruiting rankings. These are based on a 9-point scale, and for us the relevant factor is the average quality of recruits coming in to a given program. Certainly it's harder to deal with a larger class, but that is a consideration for each coach to consider; we do not find it useful to reward or punish them for imbalanced classes from year to year. We grade here only on what they did with the scholarships available to them for this season. A modest penalty is included for every unfilled scholarship, and a modest bonus for those recruits ready to contribute immediately.
We find the star rating system to be useful, and will appropriate it for the purposes here.
5-Star Classes
These are quite rare, and encompass those schools with a rating at 8.0 or above in our system. This indicates that they managed to pull in blue-chip prospects across the board. Even the best programs in the country should be pleased to be mentioned here. This season, out of 171 there are but two in this section, an indicator of the difficulty of the achievement.
1. Indiana(8.63)
2. Kansas(8.0)
The Jayhawks were listed first in the official rankings; here already we have our first disagreement, though Kansas obviously has a fine group of new players to be proud of. Indiana's haul is simply amazing though, all players with very high ceilings and pretty well-developed already. It's a near-perfect set of youngsters to reload with.
4-Star
Most programs that are, or aspire to be, national powers will find themselves here with a mix of good and great players. Duds are rare if any are to be found at all among their new recruits. Those classes in the 5.0 to 7.99 range are included.
3(t). Purdue(7.17)
3(t). Washington(7.17)
5. Stanford(6.75)
6. North Carolina State(6.5)
7. Ohio State(6.25)
8(t). Kansas State(5.83)
8(t). Duquesne(5.83)
10. Southern California(5.67)
11(t). Oregon State(5.5)
11(t). UCLA(5.5)
13. California(5.25)
14. Arkansas(5.13)
15. Louisiana State(5.0)
3 Stars
Fewer than 10% of the schools in the country have yet been accounted for. In this next category we list those in the 4.0-4.99 range, consistently classes with good players but generally few if any truly top-shelf talents. Only the very elite programs which believe themselves perennial national contenders would be disappointed to be named here.
16. Bradley(4.88)
17(t). Illinois(4.67)
17(t). Alabama(4.67)
19(t). Iowa State(4.5)
19(t). Michigan(4.5)
19(t). Villanova(4.5)
19(t). Colorado A&M(4.5)
19(t). Southern Methodist(4.5)
24. Temple(4.38)
25(t). Iowa(4.33)
25(t). Northwestern(4.33)
25(t). Penn State(4.33)
28(t). Duke(4.25)
28(t). Virginia(4.25)
28(t). Colorado(4.25)
28(t). Michigan State(4.25)
28(t). Wisconsin(4.25)
33(t). North Carolina(4.17)
33(t). St. John's(4.17)
33(t). Oklahoma A&M(4.17)
33(t). Mississippi State(4.17)
37(t). Arizona(4.0)
37(t). Brown(4.0)
37(t). Washington State(4.0)
2 Stars
Another level down we find those in the 2.0-3.99 bracket. At this tier we would expect to find a good number of schools playing in the smaller conferences. A mix of good and only marginally talented players are found here. By far, this is where the lion's share of programs find themselves.
40. Agricultural & Mechanic(3.8)
41. Saint Joseph's(3.75)
42. Oregon(3.67)
43(t). Davidson(3.63)
43(t). West Virginia(3.63)
45(t). Municipal University of Wichita(3.5)
45(t). Murray State(3.5)
45(t). Santa Clara(3.5)
48. Columbia(3.4)
49. Wake Forest(3.38)
50(t). Notre Dame(3.33)
50(t). Nebraska(3.33)
50(t). Tennessee Tech(3.33)
50(t). Georgia(3.33)
50(t). Kentucky(3.33)
55. Connecticut(3.17)
56. Lehigh(3.13)
57. Texas(3.1)
58(t). Bucknell(3.0)
58(t). Colgate(3.0)
58(t). Loyola-IL(3.0)
58(t). Rutgers(3.0)
58(t). Siena(3.0)
58(t). Western Kentucky(3.0)
58(t). Florida(3.0)
58(t). Georgia Tech(3.0)
58(t). Tennessee(3.0)
58(t). VMI(3.0)
58(t). Virginia Tech(3.0)
58(t). Baylor(3.0)
58(t). San Francisco(3.0)
71. South Carolina(2.9)
72. Tulane(2.88)
73(t). Seattle(2.83)
73(t). Drake(2.83)
73(t). Idaho(2.83)
73(t). Loyola U of Los Angeles(2.83)
77. West Texas State(2.8)
78. Utah State Agricultural College(2.75)
79. Dayton(2.7)
80(t). Arizona State(2.67)
80(t). Memphis State(2.67)
80(t). Dartmouth(2.67)
80(t). Eastern Kentucky State(2.67)
84. Pittsburgh(2.63)
85. Vanderbilt(2.6)
86(t). New Mexico A&M(2.5)
86(t). Navy(2.5)
86(t). Pennsylvania(2.5)
86(t). Manhattan(2.5)
86(t). Western Michigan(2.5)
86(t). Houston(2.5)
86(t). Utah(2.5)
86(t). Vermont(2.5)
94. Middle Tennessee(2.4)
95(t). Idaho State(2.33)
95(t). Miami(2.33)
95(t). Muhlenburg(2.33)
95(t). Brooklyn(2.33)
95(t). Miami-Ohio(2.33)
95(t). Morehead State(2.33)
95(t). Citadel(2.33)
95(t). Yale(2.33)
95(t). St. Bonaventure(2.33)
104(t). Gonzaga(2.25)
104(t). Brigham Young(2.25)
104(t). Texas Christian(2.25)
104(t). Pacific(2.25)
104(t). Rhode Island(2.25)
109(t). Saint Francis-PA(2.2)
109(t). Marshall(2.2)
109(t). Alabama Polytechnic Institute(2.2)
112. San Jose State(2.13)
113(t). Saint Louis(2.0)
113(t). Oklahoma(2.0)
113(t). Loyola-LA(2.0)
113(t). Seton Hall(2.0)
113(t). Xavier(2.0)
113(t). Princeton(2.0)
113(t). New York University(2.0)
113(t). St. Francis-NY(2.0)
113(t). Bowling Green State(2.0)
113(t). Ohio(2.0)
113(t). Denver(2.0)
113(t). Mississippi(2.0)
113(t). George Washington(2.0)
113(t). Rice(2.0)
113(t). Saint Mary's(2.0)
113(t). Niagara(2.0)
113(t). University of Maine at Or(2.0)
1 Star
We are now near the bottom, but have not quite reached it. Even schools struggling in the weakest conferences in the nation and low-ranking independents will be at least somewhat disappointed to not rank higher than this; and yet there are some surprisingly well-regarded programs here. Here are found those in the 1.0-1.99 range.
130. Hardin-Simmons(1.8)
131(t). Lafayette(1.75)
131(t). Canisius(1.75)
133. Portland(1.7)
134(t). Tulsa(1.63)
134(t). Cincinatti(1.63)
136. Pepperdine(1.62)
137(t). Army(1.6)
137(t). La Salle(1.6)
139(t). Butler(1.5)
139(t). Creighton(1.5)
139(t). DePaul(1.5)
139(t). Toledo(1.5)
139(t). Furman(1.5)
139(t). New Hampshire(1.5)
145. Holy Cross(1.4)
146. William & Mary(1.33)
147(t). Missouri(1.0)
147(t). Georgetown(1.0)
147(t). Iona(1.0)
147(t). Marquette(1.0)
147(t). Oklahoma City(1.0)
147(t). Texas Technological College(1.0)
147(t). City College of New York(1.0)
147(t). Fordham(1.0)
147(t). Kent State(1.0)
147(t). New Mexico(1.0)
147(t). Wyoming(1.0)
147(t). Harvard(1.0)
147(t). Massachusetts(1.0)
Zero Stars
One might ask why we don't use a 1-6 instead of a 0-5 star system. The reason for this is that the bottom tier is generally not worthy of any credit at all. We mean this literally; most are here not because they didn't recruit well, but because they didn't recruit period, forcing their team to make do with extra walk-ons and not bringing in any new scholarship talent at all.
160. Boston College(0.75)
161(t). Maryland(0.67)
162(t). Louisville(0.67)
163(t). Minnesota(0.6)
163(t). Texas Western(0.6)
165. Clemson(0.5)
166. Florida State(0.46)
167. Montana(0.4)
168. Mercy College of Detroit(0.38)
169. Cornell(0.25)
170. Syracuse(0.17)
171. Richmond(0.0)
It is striking that even the Seminoles, who are relying soley on walk-ons in their first year of competition, managed to not be last in this rundown. It's hard not to go up from here.
|