Basketball Talent - How to get noticed by colleges?

[Grond]

I know a young man named Brandon Clifford, who plays basketball for Paragould High School in the 5A East.

What should Brandon do to get noticed by college scouts? Any advice?

Here are some stats:

2015 MVP for 5A East as a Junior
2015 Averaged 29 points per game
2015 All-State
2015 Summer Ball - played for Arkansas Wings 17U Elite (did not start)
Graduates 2016

Brandon is a 6"-1" guard. He can easily dunk.

Has a YouTube highlite film from his Junior year: "Clifford PHS".

[sevenof400]

How are his grades and his ACT (or SAT) scores? 

Higher numbers in those areas could open up some D2 opportunities. 

Has Clifford contacted any coaches?   

Where does he want to play?

What are his academic interests?

[ricepig]

Who did he play AAU ball and isn't his high school coach working the phone for him? If not, he should have transferred to somewhere where the coach is helping his players.

[Grond]

How are his grades and his ACT (or SAT) scores? 

Higher numbers in those areas could open up some D2 opportunities. 

Has Clifford contacted any coaches?   

Where does he want to play?

What are his academic interests?

Grades - Good enough to get into state colleges; not good enough for an academic scholarship.

Coaches - Some interest, but no offers.

Interests - I'm not sure. I know he really wants to play college basketball.

[sevenof400]

From afar, I'd suggest the following to Brandon:

• Where does academics fit into your college plans?  In other words, are you attending college simply to play basketball or are you looking for a major that leads to a career?  Be honest in this assessment.
• Given your grade info, D1 and D3 schools are likely out of reach.  I'd suggest targeting D2 and NAIA schools and there are several in Arkansas.  Given your proximity to Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky, don't forget to consider schools from those states too although going to school out of state may result in the loss of the lottery scholarship.
• Identify six schools of interest - make sure you would be happy attending ANY of these six.  One or two of these could be dream type schools but the other four should all be realistically achievable.
• With this list of six schools, start by writing a letter of interest to the HC at each of these schools.  Do NOT email this letter - U.S. Mail it.  College coaches receive TONS of email and most of it goes unnoticed. You are using the U.S. Mail to establish a relationship that can be continued via email, telephone and other means.
• Keep the letter brief and to the point - tell the coach you are interested in attending their school and you would like to learn more about their program and school.  Tell the coach you will call in a couple of weeks and would like to talk to him.  Note: until July prior to your senior year, coaches cannot initiate contact - don't be discouraged if a coach doesn't call back because NCAA regulations prohibit it.
• Keep a communications log - if you mail something to a coach, note it on this list.  It doesn't matter if it is a call, email, U.S. Mail - anything - note it on the communications log.
• Three weeks after sending the first U.S. Mail piece, call the coach.  You probably won't get them on the phone so be prepared to leave a brief voice mail.  It can be as simple as a reminder to the coach that you are still interested in their program and would like to learn more about any possible opportunities for your freshman season.  Sound professional, be concise and to the point.  I'd repeat this every 3 - 4 weeks or so.  You want to stay on the coach's radar.
• If the school has a prospect database on their athletic website, sign up now!  This helps the coach (and the program's support staff) keep track of you.  It is okay to sign up on the prospect database for more than one school.
• Register as an athlete on the NCAA Clearing House (the Eligibility Center) for sure and if you are considering any NAIA schools, you will need to register on the NAIA Eligibiilty Center.  There are tasks for you to do on each of these websites - one of the first things you want to do is ensure you will be academically eligible to play college athletics.  Your high school guidance counselor should have resources to help you with this registration if you need them.

Let's start there for now - there is definitely more to do but this is enough to get you started.  This can look like a daunting list but remember you are doing this so you can play college sports.

Keep us updated on your progress.

[Grond]

Thank you. Very good info.

[NEA Razorback olfan]

Best of luck to Brandon!!!

[itsslim]

great info on how to get noticed by college coaches. thanks

[CoachGMoney]

Thank you for the information. My daughter is having a hard time as well-27 ACT and 4 point, avg 16 points, 6-8 rebounds a game, etc. always getting compliments for hustling and asked where is she planning on playing college at. Emailing a few coaches where she is interested in attending and has not gotten a response. Other high school coaches are always complimenting her as well. Maybe we will try the above suggestions.

[BigLion10]

In all honesty your coach can help out a lot as well if he or she contacts the colleges for you or sends out your highlight tape to them and ask them to take a look

[Alphaman1906]

This is a problem that I have noticed for a few year. About a month ago I got a message from a Jr. College Coach in Texas telling me that Arkansas is one of the most under recruited states, I asked why and she said because nobody knows who and where the best players are. As a person who has helped young people my whole life that was a big slap in my face, to know that young people were missing out on a chance for a free education because people really didn't know how to find them. So I looked around at what other states where doing to get their kids exposure and I noticed that almost every state had a website that ranked their players so college coaches could go to one place and see who the top players were, but in Arkansas we didn't have such a thing. So I got with Kareem Reid and a few other basketball minded people who wanted to help kids and we started www.arkansasbasketballrankings.com so coaches could know about the best players in our state. A lot of people have complained about who is ranked where, but the bottom line is now coaches all across the country can log on and read about most of the best players in the state. So if you know of a young person who you think can play on the next level please send us their information to info@arkansasbasketballrankings.com

[NEA Razorback olfan]

This is a problem that I have noticed for a few year. About a month ago I got a message from a Jr. College Coach in Texas telling me that Arkansas is one of the most under recruited states, I asked why and she said because nobody knows who and where the best players are. As a person who has helped young people my whole life that was a big slap in my face, to know that young people were missing out on a chance for a free education because people really didn't know how to find them. So I looked around at what other states where doing to get their kids exposure and I noticed that almost every state had a website that ranked their players so college coaches could go to one place and see who the top players were, but in Arkansas we didn't have such a thing. So I got with Kareem Reid and a few other basketball minded people who wanted to help kids and we started www.arkansasbasketballrankings.com so coaches could know about the best players in our state. A lot of people have complained about who is ranked where, but the bottom line is now coaches all across the country can log on and read about most of the best players in the state. So if you know of a young person who you think can play on the next level please send us their information to info@arkansasbasketballrankings.com

This is great!! Thank you and everyone for putting this together. This list could be expanded to put even more players out there that could be flying under the radar that may just need the exposure .
Arkansas has a lot of talent!!

[Grond]

In all honesty your coach can help out a lot as well if he or she contacts the colleges for you or sends out your highlight tape to them and ask them to take a look

I agree that the coach can help, but...............I am just not sure this is being done a lot.

However, I also admit that I am not very knowledgeable about college basketball coaches, and how they find talent. 

[ricepig]

In all honesty your coach can help out a lot as well if he or she contacts the colleges for you or sends out your highlight tape to them and ask them to take a look

I agree that the coach can help, but...............I am just not sure this is being done a lot.

However, I also admit that I am not very knowledgeable about college basketball coaches, and how they find talent. 

Well, depends on the coach, but the good ones will do all they can to get their players who wish to continue playing, a place to play. It may not even be D-2, but there are lots of possibilities in NAIA, D-3, and JUCO's.

[BigLion10]

I agree Grond not a lot of these coaches are contacting schools and sending out tapes for there kids anymore

[Moonshiner]

I agree Grond not a lot of these coaches are contacting schools and sending out tapes for there kids anymore

I think there's more than you realize.

[Grond]

Another issue: MVP.

I saw in the local Paragould paper that Brandon was named MVP [Most Valuable Player] for the 5A East in 2015. I was also told that he was named the 5A MVP for the state of Arkansas in 2015.

So, I decided to VERIFY what I had been told. And I can't find anything!   

I went to the AAA website, and found lists of the All-State players, and All-Tournament players. Found the East/W!est All-State Team.

But where are the MVP's listed?

[sevenof400]

Following up on this:

In all honesty your coach can help out a lot as well if he or she contacts the colleges for you or sends out your highlight tape to them and ask them to take a look

A good number of high schools in Arkansas are now loading their game film to an online services such as Hudl.  Find out if your school does this.  If so, athletes can set up accounts on Hudl and create highlight films.  (I suspect other online services have a similar set up.)

However, don't misuse this resource - keep this in mind:

• Do NOT cold send coaches highlight films - coaches already get so many films from prospects they do NOT know it is quite likely your will be ignored UNLESS....
• ..if you have an existing relationship with a coach - one you have developed through prior communication - ask them if you can send highlights of your performances AND when would they like these highlights.  Be prepared that a coach may say NOT to send one now but would like one later (perhaps after the end of their college season).  Note this in your log book (as you can see, your log book will become very important to several points in this process).
• Whenever a coach says it is okay to send them a highlight reel, make sure this reel does NOT consist solely of segments of your best plays with (on) the ball (it's obviously okay to put some of this) but also include a COMPLETE half of basketball (one where you played a lot obviously).  A coach will want to see what you do away from the ball, off the ball, on defense....in many areas where you are NOT the immediate focus of play.
• Hudl allows you to create a highlight and email only the link to the coach - this is definitely the way to go because emails with large attached files can easily be rendered undeliverable due to file attachment size limitations and/or be identified as junk or spam.
• After you send a coach an email with your highlight link in the email, call the coach and leave them a voice mail reminding them you have sent the coach an email with your highlights.  While this sounds repetitive, you want to avoid your email being tagged as spam or junk AND given the amount of email most coaches receive, if your email should fall off the first page of the coaches inbox, you have significantly decreased the likelihood of your email being found.

Remember, proper perseverance can help sell you to a coach - and that is what this process is largely about.
You'd be surprised how effective your interactions with a coach can be when you offer to do something (such as send video in the future at a prearranged time), actually send the coach the video on time at the prearranged time, and ensure the coach has successfully received the email. 

[ricepig]

Another issue: MVP.

I saw in the local Paragould paper that Brandon was named MVP [Most Valuable Player] for the 5A East in 2015. I was also told that he was named the 5A MVP for the state of Arkansas in 2015.

So, I decided to VERIFY what I had been told. And I can't find anything!   

I went to the AAA website, and found lists of the All-State players, and All-Tournament players. Found the East/W!est All-State Team.

But where are the MVP's listed?

They only have a MVP for the finals, was Paragould in the finals?

[Missco]

It sure hurts Arkansas than most of the Junior colleges in this state don't have athletic programs. MCCC was a top 25 national program every year until the idiot president wanted to drop the program. A lot of area kids end up at Dyersburgh State or Shawnee in Ulin, Illinois. Also Mississippi also has a good Jr. College system.

[Grond]

Following up on this:

In all honesty your coach can help out a lot as well if he or she contacts the colleges for you or sends out your highlight tape to them and ask them to take a look

A good number of high schools in Arkansas are now loading their game film to an online services such as Hudl.  Find out if your school does this.  If so, athletes can set up accounts on Hudl and create highlight films.  (I suspect other online services have a similar set up.)

However, don't misuse this resource - keep this in mind:

• Do NOT cold send coaches highlight films - coaches already get so many films from prospects they do NOT know it is quite likely your will be ignored UNLESS....
• ..if you have an existing relationship with a coach - one you have developed through prior communication - ask them if you can send highlights of your performances AND when would they like these highlights.  Be prepared that a coach may say NOT to send one now but would like one later (perhaps after the end of their college season).  Note this in your log book (as you can see, your log book will become very important to several points in this process).
• Whenever a coach says it is okay to send them a highlight reel, make sure this reel does NOT consist solely of segments of your best plays with (on) the ball (it's obviously okay to put some of this) but also include a COMPLETE half of basketball (one where you played a lot obviously).  A coach will want to see what you do away from the ball, off the ball, on defense....in many areas where you are NOT the immediate focus of play.
• Hudl allows you to create a highlight and email only the link to the coach - this is definitely the way to go because emails with large attached files can easily be rendered undeliverable due to file attachment size limitations and/or be identified as junk or spam.
• After you send a coach an email with your highlight link in the email, call the coach and leave them a voice mail reminding them you have sent the coach an email with your highlights.  While this sounds repetitive, you want to avoid your email being tagged as spam or junk AND given the amount of email most coaches receive, if your email should fall off the first page of the coaches inbox, you have significantly decreased the likelihood of your email being found.

Remember, proper perseverance can help sell you to a coach - and that is what this process is largely about.
You'd be surprised how effective your interactions with a coach can be when you offer to do something (such as send video in the future at a prearranged time), actually send the coach the video on time at the prearranged time, and ensure the coach has successfully received the email.

More good advice. Thanks.

Sevenof400, do you mind if I post some of your advice in the "Recruiting" section of Football?

[sevenof400]

No problem, Grond (or anyone for that matter), please feel free to copy / paste / use as needed.